Central Qld woman in court over Capricornia prison drug supply

A young mother threatened with violence by inmates if she didn’t drive 300km to deliver a drugs package was also tormented afterwards as her ex and his family kept taking her kids.

Capricornia Correctional Centre, Rockhampton prison, Rockhampton jail, Etna Creek prison

A young mother threatened with violence by inmates if she didn’t drive 300km to deliver a drugs package had turned to drugs after the death of three loved ones.

And after her now former partner was released from prison, he took their eldest child from school without telling her and refused to return them to her care, Rockhampton District Court heard last week.

Crown prosecutor Laura Bass said the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was intercepted at Capricornia Correctional Centre in November 2024, possessing a package containing 50 buprenorphine strips after staff had overheard information about the delivery in phone call intercepts.

“She told police that if she refused, she would ultimately get flogged,” Ms Bass said.

She said police searched the motel room the woman stayed in as part of her drug delivery road trip and located a further 66 strips of buprenorphine along with 0.45 grams of methamphetamines and two tablets of oxycodone for which she did not have a prescription.

Ms Bass said the defendant had no criminal history.

Defence barrister Maree Willey said there was a level of duress which fell short of a defence for her client who was in her early 20s.

“She wasn’t aware of precisely what it was she was seeking to supply, but she certainly had her suspicions,” Ms Willey said.

She said her client’s life became difficult last year following three deaths - two family members and a friend - with her ex partner, after being released from prison, taking the eldest child out of school without telling her and refusing to return them to her care.

Ms Willey said when the middle child was celebrating a birthday, one of the ex partner’s family members tried to take one of the children away while her client was in the car at the shops.

She said police were called in relation to these matters with the children and her client was seeking sole custody through the family court due to the father’s drug usage and domestic violence acts.

Ms Willey said her client has since stopped using drugs herself, providing the court with test results from November to April to prove this, and attended counselling.

She said the woman’s eldest child had special needs and received an NDIS package.

“She is very proud that she’s drug free and she wants to remain so,” Ms Willey said.

“She certainly says this process has been terrifying for her and she holds significant concerns with her children and wishes to focus on them.”

Judge Jeff Clarke said material provided to the court gave him confidence the defendant, who had driven over 300km to make the drug delivery, had high prospects of staying away from drugs in the future.

“You’re obviously going to make better choices about the men you get involved with and the people you associate with,” he said.

Judge Clarke said those “grubs” do these things - threaten people with violence to get them to deliver drugs - they use people who don’t have criminal histories and are “otherwise naive”.

“They are the ones that who profit from the illicit drug trade in jail when it does come off and they don’t really care that it may kill some people, that others are bashed for not paying their drug debts,” he said.

The woman pleaded guilty to one count of supplying drugs in a prison and received a nine-month prison term wholly suspended operational nine months.

Originally published as Central Qld woman in court over Capricornia prison drug supply