Samantha Jane Newman jailed for seven years in Brisbane Supreme Court for dealing MDMA, cocaine, LSD, cannabis

The woman also advertised other offers including that if a customer bought cannabis, they would get a “free MDMA cap”.

A drug kingpin used a network of dealers to offer “schoolies deals”. Picture: Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images

A Queensland drug kingpin used a network of over 1000 Snapchat dealers and advertised special sales such as “schoolies deals” to deal “street level and wholesale amounts” of MDMA, cocaine, LSD and cannabis, court documents reveal.

Samantha Jane Newman was jailed for seven years earlier this year after pleading guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to an array of drug charges including one count of drug trafficking and nine counts of drug possession.

Her offending spanned six months, but her downfall came when she communicated with police officers posing as customers and was arrested in February 2022.

FILE IMAGE: Police officers watch over the Schoolies week celebrations in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Picture: Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images.

According to court documents, Newman told the undercover officers that she had 1500 friends on Snapchat and around 70 per cent of those were drug dealers.

She also disclosed that she sold between 113 grams and 2 kilograms of MDMA each week.

“(Newman) advertised her products to Snapchat friends on 54 occasions and supplied to law enforcement participants on five occasions,” the Court of Appeal decision said.

“She advertised special sales, including ‘schoolies deals’. She requested and required customers to take a picture of themselves and their cash, otherwise she would not agree to the drug transaction.

“She also advertised in a way to generate sales, such as advertising that if a customer purchased cannabis they would get a ‘free MDMA cap’.

“(Newman) bought product in bulk, onselling in smaller quantities.”

According to court documents, when police searched her home and car, they found quantities of cocaine, MDMA, LSD tabs, and cannabis in aluminium pouches. Officers also found drug-related items such as scales, unused clip sealed bags, and a grinder.

Newman was aged 28 and 29 during her offending, and 30 when she was sentenced. She had no prior criminal history.

Following her sentencing in March this year, she took her case to the Court of Appeal, seeking leave to appeal her sentence and argue that it was manifestly excessive.

The three Court of Appeal judges who reviewed her case – Justice David Boddice, Justice Thomas Bradley, and Justice Peter Flanagan – handed down their decision on Friday.

Justice David Boddice described Newman’s network as having “a degree of sophistication” with a set up resembling a “businesslike model”.

Schoolies was targeted. Picture: Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images

“(Newman’s) trafficking business was engaged over approximately six months, with a frequency of sales in the context of well-orchestrated advertising of that business,” he said.

“The trafficking was conducted as a commercial enterprise with the applicant being involved in all aspects of the business, including delivery of the goods.

“It was intense and involved multiple dangerous drugs, routinely advertised broadly through Snapchat, affording the applicant a wide customer base.”

In her application to appeal her sentence, Newman – who represented herself legally – said the sentencing judge should have given greater consideration to her mitigating factors.

This included her abstinence from drug use since her arrest, her struggle with drug use which started when she was a teenager, the effect of her mental health issues which included major depressive disorder and multiple drug use disorders, and the fact that she had been on bail for a significant period without breaching any of the court’s conditions.

Newman said a prison sentence of four to five years was more reasonable, with the condition that it be suspended after she serves 12 months in actual custody.

However, Justice David Boddice disagreed.

“While the applicant (Newman) did have a number of mitigating factors, the sentencing judge carefully considered those mitigating factors, while determining what was an appropriate sentence,” he concluded.

“The sentencing judge rightly found that notwithstanding those mitigating factors, the seriousness of the applicant’s offending meant that denunciation and deterrence loomed large.

“The sentence imposed was not manifestly excessive. It was neither unreasonable nor unjust. I order that the application for leave to appeal against the sentence be refused.”

Originally published as Samantha Jane Newman jailed for seven years in Brisbane Supreme Court for dealing MDMA, cocaine, LSD, cannabis