Boyne Island’s Hannah Jane Quant, 33, found with 8.42 grams of pure meth

“When there’s a moment of turmoil in her life, she goes back to drugs,” a lawyer told a court about a Central Qld mum.

Hannah Jane Quant, 33, had 8.42 grams of pure meth in 11 grams of substance and $3105 cash in her wallet when police raided her Boyne Island home on October 13, 2022, the Supreme Court in Rockhampton heard on January 15, 2024.

A Central Queensland mother who began using meth again once she was released from prison after serving jail time for possessing $55,000 in drugs was sentenced to parole only when she was busted with 8.42g of pure meth in an 11g substance.

Hannah Jane Quant, 33, had $3105 cash in her wallet when police raided her Boyne Island home on October 13, 2022, the Supreme Court in Rockhampton heard on January 15, 2024.

She also had a blue book which contained a tick sheet and scales.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Keast said Quant, who had been sentenced to a three-year prison term with immediate parole in August 2017 for possessing drugs and supplying drugs, had a long history of using drugs.

The 2017 sentence was for possessing more than two grams of a schedule one drug on June 22, 2015 and two supplies of drugs in 2015 and 2016.

The Gladstone Magistrates Court heard in March 2016 the charges were over a $55,000 ice haul.

Mr Keast said her traffic history revealed she continued using meth after being charged for the offences in October 2022, with drug driving convictions in January 2021, July 2022, and June and July in 2023.

He said the court report outlined poor compliance with some improvement, but generally quite lacking in engagement with probation (which she has been on since September 2022 with three probation orders handed down in three sentencing proceedings) and rehabilitation, missing appointments with Lives Lived Well.

He said the court report outlined poor compliance but some improvement.

Mr Keast said Quant generally lacked engagement with probation throughout the three orders after being first sentenced in September 2022, and she missed rehabilitation appointments with Lives Lived Well.

Mr Keast said her criminal record showed she has had large drug-free periods in the past but “when there’s a moment of turmoil in her life, she goes back to drugs”.

Defence barrister Emily Lewsey said Quant was the sole parent of a “special needs” child.

She said her seven-year-old son can have “quite volatile mood swings” and is suspected of having autism, but it will take many more appointments before the diagnosis can be confirmed and the child can be medicated.

Ms Lewsey said Quant was on a waitlist to undergo counselling for her drug use and she has been employed since August 2023.

Ms Lewsey said Quant has been concerned about her son’s health for the past two years and has found everything “overwhelming”.

She said Quant, who is now engaged to her partner, was “the best person” to deal with her son’s mood swings, which “can be quite violent”.

Quant’s partner and employer describes parenting Quant’s son in his reference letter to the court as “an absolute nightmare” at times because his diagnosis is not confirmed and he is not medicated, but says Quant “gets through it”.

Quant pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing more than two grams of a schedule one drug, possessing a used glass pipe, possessing Australian currency suspected to be the proceeds of a drug crime and possessing property suspected of being used in a drug crime.

Justice Crow sentenced her to three years prison with immediate parole.

Originally published as Boyne Island’s Hannah Jane Quant, 33, found with 8.42 grams of pure meth