Michael Gilmore: Young Palmerston man guilty of supplying commercial quantities of drugs

A young Palmerston man was found with more than $25,000, alongside commercial quantities of drugs, after police were led to his door because of a gun allegedly fired by him and his co-defendant, a court has heard.

Palmerston man Michael Joseph Gilmore, 21, has pleaded guilty to supplying commercial quantities of drugs. Picture: Instagram

A young Palmerston man was found with more than $25,000 cash, alongside commercial quantities of cannabis and cocaine, after police were led to his door because of a sawn-off gun allegedly fired by him and his co-defendant, a court has heard.

Johnston man Michael Joseph Gilmore, 21, appeared in the Supreme Court at Darwin on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to charges of supplying commercial quantities of Schedule 1 and 2 drugs, and receiving proceeds of crime.

The court was told all offences were detected when police executed a search warrant on May 3 this year at Gilmore’s Johnston residence.

Officers were there because on April 25 at Virginia, a police CCTV camera captured Gilmore and another person pull up in a silver Hyundai i30, produce a sawn-off firearm, and discharge a number of rounds into bushland, before driving off.

At Gilmore’s residence, officers were struck by a “strong cannabis odour” and were able to access the dwelling via an unlocked laundry door, the court heard.

Inside, they discovered a cornucopia of contraband: $25,870 in ill-gotten cash, 5.8kg of cannabis, 59.39g cocaine, two imitation pistols, an ammunition round, a set of knuckledusters, and two mobile phones.

Palmerston man Michael Joseph Gilmore, 21, has pleaded guilty to supplying commercial quantities of drugs. Picture: Instagram

Gilmore, who was not charged with any weapons offences, handed himself into Palmerston Police Station four days later, on May 7.

He spent three days on remand before being granted bail.

If the remainder of the drugs were sold, they could have yielded a street value of between $92,000–$105,000, the Crown prosecutor told the court.

Defence counsel Peter Maley told the court there was Buckley’s chance of the rest of the drugs yielding that much revenue because he and friends would “use some, sell some, [and] give it away at parties”.

Mr Maley said his client, an apprentice whose boss and extended family were supporting him in court, commenced using cocaine recreationally in his late teens, and was a daily cannabis smoker.

However, he submitted his client’s prospects of rehabilitation were good, he had stable work, a loving family, complete lack of priors, and had removed himself from the Johnston environment, now living in his mother’s investment property.

Justice Meredith Day Huntingford delayed her decision on sentencing to December 11 to enable the commission of a pre-sentence report.

She indicated it was likely Gilmore would receive a fine and either an intensive community correction order (essentially home imprisonment and supervision) or a suspended sentence.

Gilmore’s co-defendant, who has not entered any pleas, will next appear in the Supreme Court at Darwin on Thursday.