Lachlan Earl Roy Watson in Rockhampton court for possessing meth

A father-of-three descended into heavy methamphetamine use after his partner of 13 years left him for another man.

Rockhampton Courthouse.

A father of three descended into heavy methamphetamine use, using up to 3g a day, after his new job at the mines took him away from his family and saw his partner of 13 years leave him for another man.

Lachlan Earl Roy Watson, 31, was busted with 41.803g of pure meth in 58.606g of substance when police raided his home on Burnett St in Berserker on March 29, 2023, the Supreme Court in Rockhampton heard on November 7.

Justice Graeme Crow said police also found in Watson’s bedroom two air rifles, 27 satchels of marijuana flower, a number of clip seal bags, two digital scales, seven straws, two glass pipes, a clip seal bag containing Dextrose, two mobile phones, a flip knife, and two containers of high velocity supersonic tablets.

Watson, who had warned police of the two bags of meth, denied ownership of the items and was arrested and released on bail.

Justice Crow said Watson possessed the meth for both personal and commercial use.

Watson evaded police twice in Wandal on October 13 and 30, 2023.

Police raided Watson’s home again on November 1, 2023, and inside a lockbox found 12.133g of pure meth in 16.484g of substance, 1g of marijuana, a spoon, digital scales, a used pipe, $1850 in rolled $50 notes in a pencil case, $160 in a wallet, as well as three tramadol tablets and one sildenafil tablet in the house.

Police also searched a vehicle at the address that had number plates which were reported as stolen and found ammunition, a loaded pump action rifle and a loaded handgun.

Watson was arrested and remanded in custody.

Justice Crow said Watson was “in the grips of a drug addiction at the time”.

The court heard Watson was born in Roma and had and “excellent work history”.

After leaving school in Year 10 Watson worked as a brick layer and then became a tyre mechanic for a decade and rose through the ranks to second in charge of the tyre store.

He then worked as a service manager at a Harley Davidson store for two years before getting a job out at the mines which paid more but took him away from his family.

Justice Crow said while Watson was working at the mines his ex-partner of 13 years, since they were in high school, left him for another man.

He said Watson turned to meth, a drug he had tried before, and developed an addiction and was using up to 3g a day.

“The story of your descent into drug use is not unique,” he said.

“Your descent … centred on the loss of your relationship with your wife and therefore your close relationship with your children.

“I accept you say you were heartbroken but Mr Watson that’s today’s society.

“No one owns anyone else, no one has control over anyone else.

“Your ex spouse is entitled to move on and you have to deal with it as an adult.

“That certainly doesn’t mean using drugs.

“Hopefully your time in prison has caused you to see things a little bit differently.”

Watson pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing dangerous drugs in excess of 2g.

He also pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawfully possessing weapons, two counts each of evading police, possess utensils or pipes that had been used and possessing S4 or S8 medicines or hazardous poisons, and one count each of possessing dangerous drugs, possessing anything for use in the commission of crime defined in Part 2, receiving tainted property, possessing anything used in the commission of crime defined in Part 2, driving a vehicle with false registration plates, driving an unregistered vehicle, and authority required to possess explosives.

Justice Crow sentenced Watson to 5.5 years prison, declared 372 days of presentence custody as time served and ordered he be eligible for parole from December 30, 2024.

Watson was also disqualified from driving for two years.

Originally published as Lachlan Earl Roy Watson in Rockhampton court for possessing meth