Matt Ashley Daniells jailed for four years after he sold illegal firearm
Getting busted selling a shortened, illegal rifle triggered a compulsory sentence that will lock a man away until 2022. It signalled rock bottom in what was a sustained slide into addiction and criminality.
Toowoomba
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A WRONGFUL charge for armed robbery derailed Matt Ashley Daniells’ life.
He was placed on strict bail conditions that included a curfew, and as a result he lost his job in the mines.
It also prompted the breakdown of his long-term relationship and an escalation of his meth addiction.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court heard Daniells used the drug to “mask the serious issues” he faced until the robbery charges were dropped in May 2019.
But Daniells also used the drug as a source of income.
The court heard he trafficked in methylamphetamine and cannabis from January 2018 to July 2019.
The Crown Prosecutor submitted phone records that showed Daniells supplied meth on at least 12 occasions to one customer in 2018.
His dealing in 2019 was increasingly sporadic and depended on whether he had product to sell or needed to “reload”.
“You also had a number of discussions or interactions with (a supplier) over the period charged, including discussions about threats to occasion violence to others who owed drug debts,” Justice Martin Burns said.
The court also heard Daniells sold a shortened rifle for $350, in violation of the Weapons Act.
While Justice Burns noted the pressure the wrongful charge and bail conditions put on Daniells’ life, he said mandatory sentencing legislation forced his hand.
“The tragedy of all of this is that I cannot do anything other than sentence you to actual imprisonment for two and a half years,” he said.
“You should not serve a day more than that.”
Daniels pleaded guilty to 12 counts of supplying a dangerous drug, one count of trafficking and one of suppling a category H weapon.
Justice Burns ordered a head sentence of four years in jail for the weapons charge, adding that it should be suspended after an operational period of two and half years, on December 15, 2022.
