Sharmaine Rose Cotter pleaded guilty to three drug offence in Gladstone District Court on Tuesday

A Gladstone mother ran a tight-knit drug dealing business from her Glen Eden home for four months. Read how it all unravelled here:

A Gladstone mother dealt marijuana from the comfort of her Glen Eden home for four months, until the police came knocking on her door.

To make matters worse, Sharmaine Rose Cotter was on probation at the time Gladstone police raided her home and uncovered her dangerous drug business.

Cotter, 49, pleaded guilty in Gladstone District Court on Tuesday to six charges including trafficking, producing and possessing dangerous drugs.

Sharmaine Rose Cotter pleaded guilty to three drug related charges in Gladstone District Court on Tuesday.

Crown prosecutor Geoffrey Wong said Cotter’s marijuana trafficking took place over four months between June 28 and October 24 last year.

“The evidence of the trafficking came to light at the end of the trafficking period when police searched the defendant’s home under a warrant,” he said.

“The search uncovered various items of interest including marijuana and paraphernalia, also a phone which contained text messages which constitutes the evidence of the defendant’s trafficking.

“She carried on an established business at street level, there were 56 occasions of drug supply which includes successful deals and suggestive messages.

“Her customer base was small as it only contained six people who were known to her, however, they were all regular customers.

“She usually supplied in two gram amounts, however, on three occasions she made larger sales involving an ounce on each occasion.”

Cotter’s barrister Maree Willey said her client’s customers were family and friends, with no advertising undertaken by Cotter.

“The quantities supplied on each of those occasions were street level and when the police searched my client’s residence there was no large sums of cash located,” she said.

Judge Catherine Muir said the seriousness of Cotter’s offending could not be overlooked.

“Your offending related to you selling marijuana in Gladstone for four months and during that period supplied the drug on 56 occasions,” she said.

“The deleterious effects of marijuana are a blight on the lives of many of our young people and do create a burden on society, it is by no means a harmless drug.

“Those who suggest it is harmless are perpetrators of a dangerous urban myth.”

Cotter was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment, wholly suspended for three years.

Originally published as Sharmaine Rose Cotter pleaded guilty to three drug offence in Gladstone District Court on Tuesday