Roy Matthew Stone pleads guilty in Cairns Supreme Court to trafficking

A civil construction supervisor has been sentenced in a Cairns court after he continued to deal ice for several months after being charged by police.

A civil construction supervisor continued to deal methamphetamine for several months after he was charged by police, a court has heard.

Roy Matthew Stone, 43, of Cairns, pleaded guilty in Cairns Supreme Court to trafficking, two counts of possession and two other drug-related charges.

He was found in possession of a pipe in May, 2022, found to be drug driving in July and was arrested and remanded in custody for trafficking on October 19, 2022, spending 486 days in pre-sentence custody.

Crown prosecutor Clayton Wallis said Stone had six suppliers, 17 customers and two intermediaries and although it was street level trafficking, he had aspirations to move higher.

He offered 32.2g of meth for $20,000 and made arrangements to supply three and a half ounces for $28,000 but it did not come to fruition.

Cairns Supreme Court heard Roy Matthew Stone had aspirations for deals of up to $28,000. Picture: Supplied.

He said it was not contended that other deals of $26,000 and $28,000 took place.

“He has developed insight and a remorseful mindset supports genuine prospects of rehabilitation,” Mr Wallis said.

Defence barrister Martin Longhurst said Stone drove long distances under immense work pressure in civil construction.

“This is a man who hit absolute rock bottom, his wife of 20 years is in court, he has four children,” Mr Longhurst said.

“He was going to big civil projects in remote communities, going from pillar to post, from Townsville to Longreach then to Doomadgee, in the aftermath of Covid when it was very hard to get tradies … staff shortages, pressure from communities, pressure from bosses, they want to keep contracts,” he told the court.

“So he found himself using ice, not recreationally – doing it trying to maintain meaningful employment, he worked incredibly hard to support his family and 18 months later he is trying to scrounge $300 from degenerate drug users to scratch money together to buy drugs.”

Chief Justice Helen Bowskill said Stone made a terrible decision but went further and made meth available to other people.

Stone received a head sentence of five years for two counts of possession and two other drug-related charges. Picture: Supplied

She said he was lucky he wasn’t dealing at a higher level.

“Along the way there were two interactions with police, it is a great shame you didn’t take those as a hint to stop,” Ms Bowskill said.

She said on May 12, police found 13.7g of substance with 10.3g pure meth in his home, he was charged, got bail and continued trafficking.

In July he was caught drug driving and in October he was stopped by police, money and a phone were seized and he had a small quantity of meth.

Ms Bowskill imposed a head sentence of five years, declared 496 days time served, and set a parole eligibility date of February 27, 2024.

Originally published as Roy Matthew Stone pleads guilty in Cairns Supreme Court to trafficking