Railway Estate tobacconist fined after no-show at court date

A Townsville tobacconist has copped a fine after dozens of vapes, laced with a “hazardous poison” were seized by authorities in a raid.

Generic imagery of Vaping. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A Townsville tobacconist has been fined after dozens of vapes, laced with a “hazardous poison” were seized by health authorities, a court has heard.

A call-over-mention in Townsville Magistrates Court on Wednesday heard that Tazy Tobacconist (Babylonian Pty Ltd) was hit with two charges after Queensland Health authorities executed a search warrant at the Railway Estate store in April last year.

The store was charged with one count each of buy or possess S4 or S8 medicines or hazardous poisons and supply medicines and hazardous poisons.

Magistrate Susan Warrington, satisfied a complainant summons had been issued, said the “defendant had had a fair and reasonable opportunity to appear and obtain legal advice in relation to these matters”.

“The defendant has not appeared and I’m satisfied it’s appropriate that the matter be dealt with ex parte,” she said.

Solicitor Alexandra Gordon, who appeared via telephone on behalf of Queensland Health said she had also not heard from the defendant.

Ms Gordon said sentencing submissions, a statement of facts, an affidavit and three verdicts of judgments had been provided to the court on Tuesday, May 27.

The court heard 56 vapes, laced with nicotine were seized after a search warrant was executed on April 3 last year.

Ms Warrington said a sample of 20 vapes had “tested positive for nicotine anywhere between 17,000 and 35,000 milligrams per kilogram”.

She said the vapes were “displayed for sale”

“What aggravates the offending is that obviously those items were on display for commercial benefit,” Ms Warrington said.

“The defendant, although they have no criminal history, there is a history of infringements which have been provided to the court.

“When I’m sentencing the defendant I do need to include conditions here that act as a deterrent not only to them personally but also to others in the community.”

Ms Warrington said nicotine was a “hazardous poison”.

“When these items are manufactured overseas it is impossible to verify the ingredients of those personal vaporisers,” she said.

“I’m satisfied that the most appropriate and just penalty is to convict the defendant.

“There is no evidence before the court to consider as to the impact that (a conviction) could have on the defendant’s future social or economic well being.

“They do have, as I said, previous infringements under the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998.

“I do consider that there is a public interest in having the convictions recorded so I have recorded them.”

Ms Warrington recorded a conviction on both counts and fined the store $3,500 along with $1,750 in legal costs.

A second tobacconist – Townsville Tobacconist (Safi Group Pty Ltd) - also had their matter briefly mentioned in Townsville Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Solicitor Mark Zeller from Indigo Law, who appeared via telephone on behalf of Safi Group, said his client intended to plead guilty to both charges of buy or possess S4 or S8 medicines or hazardous poisons and supply medicines and hazardous poisons.

Ms Warrington adjourned the matter for sentence on June 27.

Originally published as Railway Estate tobacconist fined after no-show at court date