Cairns crime: Laurence Alan Domara pleads guilty to trafficking suboxone at Lotus
Cairns District Court heard man who said he inadvertently became addicted to illicit suboxone while in prison and became part of a trafficking gang wanted to pursue a career as a drug rehabilitation counsellor.
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A man who was one of 12 charged in April last year with 26 offences arising from a police sting on the trafficking of dangerous and prescription drugs at Lotus Glen faced Cairns District Court on June 20.
Laurence Alan Domara, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking a dangerous drug and three charges of calling an approved telephone number knowing the call would be diverted to someone other than the approved person.
Prosecutor Matthew Hancock said it was a sophisticated operation involving trafficking large quantities of suboxone over six months.
“The most serious aspect is not only the quantity, but the fact it was moved into a prison, disrupting the rehabilitation of other prisoners, there’s evidence of a lack of remorse and it really is an affront to the criminal justice system,” Mr Hancock told the court.
“It involved a number of prisoners who utilised people outside … he was not one of the three big players, but played a significant role.”
“He successfully facilitated three parcels of suboxone into Lotus Glen, there was more than what we can identify but it was in excess of 200 strips with 250 to 300 tabs per strip, so that’s 50,000 or 60,000,” Mr Hancock said.
Mr Hancock said there were 143 payments into a woman’s bank accounts from 55 separate customers and the crown could prove Domara earned $18,950 during the enterprise.
“He was motivated by greed, played on addicted people inside prison, it had far reaching consequences and is a very serious example of this type offending,” Mr Hancock said.
He said there were 39 calls on 16 separate dates, and Domara sent a letter to another woman.
Mr Hancock said Domara was burdened by a six-page criminal history, with a number of breaches of court orders.
He said offences included what he would broadly describe as an attempt to pervert the course of justice because he was calling people from prison to have the complainant retract her statement.
Domara had spent 17 months on remand for this offending.
Defence barrister Tim Grau said Domara’s motivation was addiction, not greed and he had no criminal history of drug offences before going to jail in March 2020.
Mr Grau said Domara was unsure how long he was going to be in jail and had been taking Valium for anxiety and to sleep and it was not available in the facility.
“He became aware everyone in the prison was using suboxone strips or on the OSP (Opioid substitute program), and one day when he was particularly down and vulnerable, he was offered the strips, he started using the strips and became addicted very quickly – four strips a day,” Mr Grau said.
“He sought to get on the OSP program but didn’t get on it until just before he was charged.
He said Domara sold a car and motorcycle and other assets to feed his addition.
“Once he got into OSP he stopped using it illegally, and was only using a quarter of what he was.”
He said Domara was the victim of sexual abuse as a child and had been diagnosed and treated for schizophrenia, with monthly injections from Tully Mental Health Services.
“He wants to focus on bettering himself and has a uni focus.”
Mr Grau said Domara would like to become a drug rehabilitation counsellor.
Judge Coker said the charge of trafficking dangerous drugs was much more significant than the other charges.
“Bringing drugs in creates dreadful disruption, difficult people utilised drugs they were otherwise unable to access and become distressed and difficult to control,” Judge Coker said.
“And make no mistake, your degree of offending shows a degree of sophistication and control, and I note there was certainly a financial aspect to it, you received payments of about $18,950 as well as other payments from those higher up the chain.”
He said there was evidence Domara had psychotic episodes and had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had “an extremely dysfunctional, disruptive background.”
He declared the 524 days Domara had spent in pre-sentence custody non-declarable as time served and gave him a head sentence of three and a half years, on top of a previous six year sentence.
He noted Domara would have been eligible for parole on May 17, having served a third of the first sentence, and gave him a parole eligibility date of June 20.
Suboxone is a controlled drug containing buprenorphine and naloxone, and is one of the main medications used to treat opioid addiction.
Experts say suboxone can be misused, but causes much less euphoria than opiates such as heroin and oxycodone.
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Originally published as Cairns crime: Laurence Alan Domara pleads guilty to trafficking suboxone at Lotus
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