Joshua Leslie Hawkins: Gold Coast plumber jailed for role in 1kg cocaine import scheme
A Gold Coast plumber who was found in possession of more than a kilogram of cocaine at Elanora will serve hard time despite coming to the court with a limited criminal history. Here’s how he got in too deep.
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A Gold Coast plumber who played a role in a scheme to import more than a kilogram of cocaine into the region has been jailed.
Joshua Leslie Hawkins, 34, formerly of Broadbeach Waters but more recently Tamborine Mountain, appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court last month, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a marketable quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug.
The offence was committed on April 21, 2023 at Elanora, according to recently published sentencing remarks by Justice Michael Copley KC.
The court heard that on the day in question, police were surveilling Hawkins’ Broadbeach Waters residence when he decamped at about 9am.
They followed him to The Pines Elanora Shopping Centre, where he collected a large cardboard box from Australia Post that was purportedly for a Palm Beach resident called Cameron Kennedy.
Cops witnessed Hawkins place the box in his van and he was still in possession of the consignment a short time later when they pounced.
A search of the box uncovered 1.06kg of cocaine with a purity of 69.5 per cent, the court heard.
Analysis of Hawkins’ mobile phone uncovered a series of incriminating messages via the encrypted messaging application Threema. The identity of those he was conversing with was not able to be ascertained.
During his interview with police, Hawkins told them his job was to “pick up and drop off”, Justice Copley said in his sentencing remarks.
Hawkins declined to tell police who exactly he was dropping the consignment to and asserted that he did not specifically know it was cocaine, although he had suspicions the package might contain a border-controlled drug.
In return for his services, Hawkins would have a $50,000 debt wiped. It was not immediately clear how he racked up the debt.
Justice Copley said Hawkins had a number of factors in favour of moderating the sentence, including his “very, very limited criminal history”, his early plea of guilty, his co-operation with police, and his good work history as a plumber (Hawkins owns his own business, Sky Hawk Plumbing & Gas).
Further, the judge accepted prison would be more onerous for Hawkins due to a skydiving accident in late 2023 wherein the defendant’s parachute failed to open, leading to injuries including a fractured leg, dislocated pelvis, rib fractures, an ACL rupture, and a collapsed lung.
It was submitted on Hawkins’ behalf that his ongoing, intensive physiotherapy needs would be unlikely to be met in prison, which Justice Copley agreed would probably be the case.
Justice Copley, who said he thought it unlikely Hawkins would offend again, sentenced the defendant to six years’ imprisonment with release on court-ordered parole after serving two years behind bars.
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Originally published as Joshua Leslie Hawkins: Gold Coast plumber jailed for role in 1kg cocaine import scheme
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