Exposed: The South Australian parents convicted of drug-related crimes in the past 12 months
Parents aren’t all perfect, but a select few are so badly behaved their actions led them to court. See what landed these mums and dads in hot water.
SA News
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Whether they’d like to admit it, every parent has made a mistake at some stage in their child’s life.
They might have dropped their kids at school late, forgotten to pack a lunch, or slept through an alarm on a Saturday, missing their kids’ sports game.
But across the state, there are some parents who have tried to get away with a lot worse – drug driving with their kids in the car, passing out next to fast food restaurants and using home detention as a “party room”.
In South Australia, these parents have tried to get away with drug-related crimes but the law caught up with them. These are 13 parents who have faced court in the past 12 months.
Kelly Steen – 34
Caught with a large amount of cash, meth and a tick list, 34-year-old Port Lincoln mother Kelly Steen tried to convince police she’d just had a big win at the pokies.
Steen was a passenger in a car that was stopped by police in April 2021, where she admitted to having drugs.
Presenting a glasses case to police, officers found two bags of methamphetamine.
Police also found other drug paraphernalia, including plastic bags, an ice pipe and spoons.
“In your handbag they located a total of $2470 cash which you falsely said was from pokie winnings,” Auxiliary Judge Gordon Barrett said during sentencing in November.
She pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, and the court heard she’d had a drug problem for about two years.
Auxiliary Judge Barrett said he would sentence on the basis she was a low level street dealer trading to maintain her drug habit.
She had spent three months in custody and returned no positive drug tests during her home detention bail, with the court finding she had managed to “break” her habit.
Steen was sentenced to two years and five months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and four months.
Due to Steen’s limited criminal history and rehabilitation efforts, the sentence was suspended on a $500, three-year good behaviour bond, with supervision for one year.
Chad Peter Christou – 37
Rebelling against his upbringing as a Jehovah’s Witness, Chad Peter Christou was caught dealing drugs in a hotel room.
The 37-year-old has been jailed for six years after police found three bottles of GBH – also known as fantasy – along with a loaded rifle, ammunition and tick lists at his Greenwith property.
The court heard the 1.37kg of fantasy was valued up to $6850.
When police returned the following day, Christou was not home, but had been using his credit card at the Walkers Arm Hotel.
Two days later, police searched his hotel room and found more tick lists, mobile phones, along with methamphetamines in his underwear.
Christou, a father of two, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm, commercial drug trafficking and large commercial drug trafficking.
During his sentencing submissions, the court heard his parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses and he wanted to rebel against his strict upbringing.
Judge Michelle Sutcliffe said Christou had been motivated by profit, evident by the tick lists and the large quantities of drugs found.
“Your intention was to supply the drugs to other smaller drug dealers at a lower rate than the street value, so you fall to be sentenced as a mid-level dealer,” she said.
Christou was sentenced to six years and five months jail, with a non-parole period of five years and one month.
The sentence was backdated to February 12, 2021.
Monique Jane Mitchell – 26
For most, losing the ability to drive would deter them from using drugs behind the wheel again.
But for P-plater and former dairy farm employee Monique Jane Mitchell, it was just the beginning of a raft of offending.
In 2019, the young mother received a six month loss of licence for drug driving offences, but when she was pulled over again in November last year, she had another person in the car with her – her 8-year-old child.
Testing positive to methamphetamines, Mitchell told officers she’d consumed MDMA on the weekend.
Unrepresented in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court, she pleaded guilty to driving with methamphetamine with a child under 16 present, as well as contravening a condition of her provisional license.
She was fined $1100, and lost her license for 12 months.
Magistrate Koula Kossiavelous said Mitchell should consider “counselling” to tackle her drug problems.
Sonia Kay Doeuk – 44
This northern suburbs mother was eight months pregnant when she was arrested and charged with drug trafficking and possession.
Now a mother of four, Sonia Kay Doeuk was arrested after police raided her home in Lightsview and found 16g of MDMA, 100g of marijuana, methamphetamine, various mobile phones and tick lists (a record of debt owed to the dealer), as well as other drug-dealing indicators.
She was charged with drug trafficking, but when police attended her property a few days later, she was found lying face down on the ground.
A police prosecutor told the Adelaide Magistrates Court Doeuk was “foaming from the mouth,” after suffering what they believed to be a drug overdose at the property.
In January, Doeuk pleaded guilty to six counts of drug trafficking and one count of possessing a controlled drug, but begged the court not to jail her despite racking up $50,000 worth of suspected drug sales in her bank account.
Her lawyer James Marcus told the court his client had been a qualified chef before opening a cafe in 2008, which she ran successfully for 11 years.
She is due to be sentenced later this month.
Simon Andrew Caldwell – 46
This Whyalla father of two came clean on his drug dealing business when police found over 7.39g of a substance in his home.
Simon Andrew Caldwell had turned to using methamphetamine as a coping mechanism after he lost his job, before turning to sell the drug with his former partner.
Police analysed two phones and found messages consistent with Caldwell and his partner selling methamphetamine for months.
The father-of-two pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking.
“You subsequently discovered your wife had issues with gambling and that your savings had been diminished as a result of her addiction,” Judge Ian Press said during sentencing.
“Not long after you were unable to meet the mortgage repayments on the house, your investment property and your new vehicle.
“Within a very short period of time, you felt as if you had lost anything of value to you.”
The court heard Caldwell’s debt recovery motivation to deal drugs did not mean his offending was less serious.
He was sentenced to three years and five months in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months.
Skye Gemma Reynolds – 23
Skye Gemma Reynolds was just 14 when she gave birth to her first child.
In the years to come, she became hooked on methamphetamines and turned to dealing drugs to maintain her own habit.
But after a late night trip to a fast food venue, Reynolds was busted by police as she sat unconscious in the driver’s seat outside of a Hungry Jack’s in Dry Creek.
During sentencing in July, Judge Paul Slattery said a Hungry Jack’s employee had gone out to Reynolds’ car to deliver her food when they found her with her “head flopped to the side” and her “eyes were closed”.
“You were unconscious and appeared to be under the influence of drugs,” Judge Slattery said.
Emergency services were called to check on the 23-year-old, but when police officers searched her car, they found three bags of meth, a large quantity of 1,4-Butanediol, cash and multiple mobile phones.
The court heard the drugs had a street value of up to $2700.
In photos released by the court, Reynolds had been sending photos of drugs to people, asking them if they wanted any of her “killa drink” – a phrase often used when dealing methamphetamines.
After pleading guilty to two counts of drug trafficking, the young mum said her motivation to stop consuming drugs was to gain the custody of her children.
“This did not prevent you from falling into drug trafficking,” Judge Slattery said.
She was sentenced to two years and 10 months jail, with a non-parole period of 15 months, which was backdated to December 2022.
Alicia Bartley – 40
A mother of six, Alicia Bartley turned to drug dealing to fund her own addiction, and pay off a family member’s debt.
The 40 year old was arrested as part of Operation Ironside in which international law enforcement was monitoring encrypted AN0M phones used by the criminal underworld.
Bartley pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking, as well as a myriad of firearms offences after police found gel blasters at her home in June 2021.
Her phone was monitored by international law enforcement, which revealed she had been using the handle “South Park” to source methamphetamine from a series of kilogram wholesalers.
She had been bragging about selling up to 20 ounces of the drug per week, which is worth about $100,000.
She came to the attention of police, who were targeting the larger wholesalers, through her links to a criminal syndicate moving millions of dollars of drugs from the East Coast.
Her home was raided, and police found $11,000 in cash as well as 5.41g of methamphetamine.
In June, she was sentenced to four years, five months and 24 days in custody, with a non parole period of two years, one month and 30 days.
However, taking Bartley’s children into account, she was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention.
Stephen Paul Sideras – 30
A father-of-five, Stephen Paul Sideras was jailed for over four years after his tyre shop front was uncovered as a commercial drug business.
Having already faced charges of a similar nature, the 30-year-old northern suburbs man was arrested after police found 2.5kg of cannabis in his Lewiston home and Smithfield business in 2021.
Police also located cannabis oil in two pressure cooker pots and more than $13,000.
CCTV footage from Sideras’ business location captured him engaging in the sale of cannabis, as well as other drug related items.
He pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking and manufacturing in a controlled drug.
Sideras pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking and manufacturing a controlled drug, having already been handed a suspended sentence for other drug offending.
The court heard Sideras began supplying cannabis oil to his uncle and sister who used it for health reasons and it turned into a business.
“At the time of the offending your legitimate business was suffering financial difficulties and you believed you could overcome these financial difficulties through the trafficking,” Judge Michael Burnett said.
Sideras was sentenced to four years and two months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and three months.
Renae O’Bryan – 36
The former partner of Simon Caldwell, Renae Elma O’Bryan was his co-accused as well as his lover.
However, the Whyalla Norrie mother of two managed to avoid a prison term for her involvement in Caldwell’s drug dealing business.
The court heard she had entangled herself in her then partner’s operation by taking sales inquiries and packing drugs for sale, a court heard.
O’Bryan, 34, turned to using methamphetamine after a traumatic event in her life and joined forces to sell the product with her partner, Simon Andrew Caldwell.
The court also heard O’Bryan did not profit directly from the enterprise but indirectly benefited by obtaining drugs.
“You took calls and packaged drugs for sale, I accept you were not the driving force behind that business,” Judge Press said.
O’Bryan, a qualified hairdresser, had previously owned her own salon in Gawler, but that wasn’t a successful business.
Since her arrest, O’Bryan had stopped using drugs and was undertaking a nail technician course.
She is no longer in a relationship with Caldwell.
Judge Press sentenced O’Bryan to three years and five months jail, with a non-parole period of two years after pleading guilty to drug trafficking.
Due to O’Bryan’s rehabilitation efforts and minimal role in the offending, the sentence was suspended on a $100, two-year good behaviour bond, with supervision.
Kym Christopher Nyenhuis – 36
Smithfield father Kym Christopher Nyenhuis was told he’d miss the birth of his third child after he was jailed for his drug habit in July last year.
Nyenhuis, 36, was found unconscious in the driver seat of his car in June 2021, when police found him in possession of 21g – $7000 worth – of methamphetamine.
The Gawler West father pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
During sentencing, the court had heard the death of a friend had triggered Nyenhuis to relapse after he’d been clean for a while.
“That set him (on a) downward spiral … it caused him to slip away from his relationship, revert to drug use,” Nick Vadasz, for Nyenhuis, said.
Nyenhuis had purchased an ounce of meth after this occasion and planned to sell a portion of it.
During sentencing, Judge Rauf Soulio told the court Nyenhuis purchased an ounce of methamphetamine.
“It appears that you had used a not insignificant portion of that drug given the circumstances in which you were found by police,” Judge Soulio said.
During court proceedings, it was also revealed Nyenhuis’ father was a police officer in a country SA town, and also had a child due with his partner this year.
He was sentenced to two years and seven months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and two months.
“I hope that you’re able to look after your family when you’re released from prison … and get back on track.”
The sentence was backdated to April 12, 2022.
Tarelle Lewis Charles Power-Williams – 20
Anyone with a heavy right foot thinking about exceeding the speed limit should remember what happened to this young man’s pride and joy.
In January, L-plater Tarelle Lewis Charles Power-Williams, 20, was busted doing 253km/h in a 110km/h zone, with cops catching up to him when his car suffered a mechanical fault on the North South Motorway.
Police used him as an example, and crushed his car in a bid to deter copycat offending in the community, but losing his beloved 2009 Holden ute was the least of Power-Williams’ problems.
The young father later pleaded guilty to commercial drug trafficking offences committed between May 31 and June 26 last year.
He’d also boasted a picture of him holding a wad of $50 bills on his social media.
He is due to face court again in November.
Bradley Justin Staude, Sherrie Charlton-Wesley – 29 and 27
These parents had a drug addiction, but it was their toddler who almost died as a result of their habits.
Bradley Staude, 29, and Sherrie Charlton-Wesley, 27, both pleaded guilty to criminal neglect after their toddler ingested a potentially fatal amount of fantasy in March 2020.
In March 2021, the pair’s toddler ingested a large amount of the drug, but instead of calling an ambulance, Staude and Charlton-Wesley started to look up what to do online.
Just after 2am the following day, when the child was in clear distress, the parents called emergency services but lied about what had happened to the child.
During the call the child could be heard breathing with difficulty in the background as Charlton-Wesley said that she had seen the child place a bottle to her lips, but was not sure what was inside the container.
The court heard Charlton-Wesley had told the triple-0 operator that “druggies” had lived in the home before, and she didn’t know what could have been left behind.
When paramedics arrived the child was unconscious.
Tests would later show she had enough fantasy in her system to be fatal to an adult drug user.
The child “miraculously” made a full recovery, but Judge Joana Fuller, in sentencing, said the pair had made a “conscious decision to take drugs while there were children present”.
“There is a very heavy responsibility on you to keep your children safe, and you both miserably failed to discharge that responsibility,” she said.
Staude was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison, with a non parole period of 19 months.
Charlton-Wesley was sentenced to three years and nine months, with a non parole period of 22 months.
That sentence was backdated to November 2022.
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