Lily Francis Hounslow faces meth, cocaine charges in Supreme Court

Citing “already overstretched” jails and human rights, a lawyer has failed to stop his ex-real estate agent turned alleged Bruce Hwy drug runner client from giving birth behind bars.

Lily Hounslow wanted to give birth at a private hospital.

A former real estate agent, allegedly busted with more than $2 million worth of drugs on Queensland’s major highway, has failed in her bid to delay sentencing so she can give birth in a private hospital.

The push to put off Lily Francis Hounslow’s sentence for five months was made in the Rockhampton Supreme Court.

It comes after she was allegedly being busted with a huge haul of cocaine and meth, stashed in an Amarok, on Rockhampton’s Neville Hewitt Bridge, which is part of the Bruce Highway route, on October 20, 2022.

Ms Hounslow is charged with one count of possessing more than 200 grams of a schedule one drug and another of possessing less than 200g of a schedule one drug.

She was previously granted bail in the Supreme Court in Brisbane in November 2022 and has since fallen pregnant while waiting for the case to be finalised and living with family in Harristown, Toowoomba.

She first alerted the court of her request for a delay before Anzac Day and her charges were adjourned to allow her lawyer Calvin Gnech time to respond to the prosecution’s objections to that request.

Mr Gnech had said at the time that his client risked spending time in custody due to her charges and wanted her sentence delayed until after she had given birth.

The case has since returned to court where Mr Gnech revealed Miss Hounslow’s birth plan was to have her baby at St Vincent’s Hospital in Toowoomba – which is a private hospital.

He said his client’s application was to have her sentence scheduled at least 12 weeks after she gave birth with her due date being August 5 and wanted a sentence date after October 28.

“It’s not in the public interest to compel my client to give birth in custody,” Mr Gnech said, telling the court it wasn’t necessary to protect the public from Miss Hounslow as she was not a risk of reoffending.

Mr Gnech pointed to the findings of the Women’s Safety and Justice Task Force Report which highlighted there were significant inadequacies in the care of many women receiving care in custody during pregnancy, birth, post-natal periods including the loss of pregnancies and stillbirths.

He said that report then made significant recommendations after highlighting those deficiencies.

Mr Gnech also pointed to the Human Rights Act and said it was in the best interests of the child to receive the best post-natal care his client could provide at the private hospital.

He also claimed it would be stressful and detrimental for his client to give birth in the “already overstretched corrective service system” and evidence from Miss Hounslow’s obstetrician was that there already had been complications with the pregnancy.

Justice Graeme Crow questioned this, asking if he meant the anxiety which, according to the material before the court, she been suffering from for the past two years.

Mr Gnech replied “yes”, along with vomiting and abdominal pain for which she was hospitalised in October.

“It seems to me that Miss Hounslow is in no (different) position than any other young lady who commits a serious crime and finds herself pregnant,” Justice Crow said.

“I sentence many, many hundreds of prisoners; it’s very rare (to) sentence a prisoner who does not have mental health issues.”

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips said Queensland prisons had services available to deal with high-risk pregnancies and mental health issues.

He provided the court a letter by a nurse from the Townsville’s Women Correctional Centre the following day about how it managed prisoners who had high risk pregnancies.

He also said the letter revealed those types of pregnancies could be managed by the prison’s visiting midwife or by telehealth or face-to-face appointments with obstetricians.

Justice Crow denied Miss Hounslow’s request to delay her sentence until after she gave birth.

Details of Ms Hounslow’s intercept by police were revealed in court documents viewed by the Courier Mail after her previous bail application.

They stated the former cafe manager and real estate agent was pulled over by police as she was driving a silver-coloured Volkswagen Amarok in Rockhampton and they found 2kg of the drug ice, 255g of cocaine and 8g of ecstasy in a hidden compartment.

The traffic intercept was captured on police body worn camera footage and officers found the drugs in six large clip-seal bags hidden in a compartment in the tailgate, which could only be found after it was deconstructed by removing screws, the documents allege.

Police also allege she told officers she was travelling to Mackay to look at houses with the aim of moving there and taking up work as a hairdresser and had left Brisbane at 2am that day, was flushed in the face and her hands were excessively shaking, the documents read.

In his objection to bail affidavit sworn on October 20, investigating officer Snr Constable Thomas O’Rourke from Rockhampton CIB, stated that the “street value” of the ice found in a hidden compartment within the tailgate of the ute, was up to $2m.

On November 7, Justice Susan Brown ordered Ms Hounslow be granted bail on strict conditions including that she must appear at Rockhampton Magistrates Court on December 7, live with her dad in Harristown, report to police in Toowoomba three days a week, and abide by a night curfew.

Ms Hounslow told the court that at the time of her arrest she was the manager of a cafe and earning $1043 per week, previously worked in real estate, and completed an apprenticeship in hairdressing.

Her Supreme Court sentence has been scheduled for June 2.

Originally published as Lily Francis Hounslow faces meth, cocaine charges in Supreme Court