Drug dealer Jimmey Barkho avoids extra jail time after guilty plea

A Port Melbourne drug trafficker is miserable with life as a family man, but tired of being part of the “animals out there” in the criminal world, a court has heard.

Barkho was arrested at a mate’s house after a police raid in 2018. Picture: Alex Coppel

Drug trafficker Jimmey Barkho is “miserable” in the knowledge he’s just an “average” family man after apparently giving up a life of crime, a court has heard.

The 30-year-old, who avoided further jail time on Tuesday after pleading guilty to drug and proceeds of crime charges, told a psychologist that he no longer wanted to be part of the “animals out there”.

The County Court heard he was arrested at a mate’s house that was raided by the police in June 2018, where officers found him in a room trying to move away from a Louis Vuitton bag on the bed.

In the bag, cops found more than 180g of ice, $8926.20 in cash, Barkho’s passport, wallet and three mobile phones that were “usually an indication of involvement in drug supply”.

In sentencing the Port Melbourne man, Judge Helen Syme said a psychologist report showed he now had to view himself as an “average” partner and father and was “miserable with that observation”.

But it was “time you grew up”, Judge Syme said.

Jimmey Barkho was told by Judge Syme it was ‘time you grew up’.

“This is your very, very last chance, sir,” she warned Barkho after handing him 101 days of jail time already served and a three year Community Corrections Order.

The court heard Barkho “may have been the target of an attack” with firearms at his home last year, which was a “hangover from previous associations”.

But the man – with a decade-long wrap sheet for drug trafficking and gun possession – now had a reliable job and was caring for his young child.

“I don’t suggest, and neither does your counsel, that all of your problems are over,” Judge Syme said.

A statement from Barkho’s lawyers that he was “no longer financially dependent on crime to support your drug habit or your lifestyle” indicated to the judge that he previously lived a life reliant on crime.

A psychologist said Barkho was a “broken and flawed character” who turned to drugs because of school bullying and social isolation, and that he had symptoms of PTSD and a stimulus use disorder.

Judge Syme hit back at Barkho’s calls for a more lenient sentence over his drug addiction issues, saying “you have been afforded multiple opportunities by various courts to resolve your drug addiction issues, which have been long standing”.

And his claims that he was remorseful for his crimes was “somewhat diminished” after he wanted his lawyers to tell the court the drugs found in his luxury bag were somebody else’s.

Barkho’s three year CCO will come with 350 hours unpaid community service work.

If it wasn’t for his plea of guilty, he would have been slapped with 15 months jail, with a minimum of nine months.