Kim William Serventy pleads guilty to multiple drug offences

A Townsville man who was caught trying to smuggle drugs into the prison has shown no signs of rehabilitation, a court has heard.

Kim William Serventy.

A long-term heavy drug user and supplier tried to organise 150 strips of ‘subbies’ to be brought into the Townsville Men’s Correctional Centre while he was remanded inside.

Kim William Serventy, 38, pleaded guilty to 13 drug related offences that mainly involved the possession and supply of a range of dangerous drugs including Buprenorphine when he appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Buprenorphine, which is sold under the brand name Suboxone, is a prescription opiate used to help wean people off ice and heroin. Known as ‘subbies’ in the prison world, it has become a popular black market prison drug because it comes in a thin clear patch and is very easy to conceal.

Crown Prosecutor Rana Aldas said Serventy had a 10-page criminal history which mainly involved dangerous drug offences, and Wednesday was his third appearance in the Supreme Court.

Kim William Serventy.

She said he first appeared in court in 2005 and his history showed that he was not deterred by orders of the court or jail sentences.

She said he had shown no signs of rehabilitation during his mature life after becoming addicted to methamphetamine.

The court heard that during a police search of his vehicle on May 25, 2022, police located a quantity of drugs, including methamphetamine and GHB, in a secret compartment fitted into the dashboard of the vehicle.

Ms Aldas said Serventy also had bags of drugs and clipseal bags secreted in his underpants.

While he was on bail for those offences a second police search of the car in November that year found another cache of drugs hidden in the same secret dashboard compartment.

Police confiscated Serventy’s mobile phone but, despite a court order, he refused to give them the PIN number of the phone and Ms Aldas said it was likely that the phone contained details of commercial drug activity.

After the second car search, Serventy was remanded in custody and he said he recruited his partner to supply 150 strips of subbies to be smuggled into the prison, but police intercepted the drugs at the partner’s house in Pimlico.

Serventy’s barrister, Harvey Walters, said his client was an intelligent man with a degree in IT and had worked in the IT industry in Brisbane for about 10 years.

He told the court Serventy began using recreational drugs but had a girlfriend who was a meth user and she convinced him to try ice.

“There was a rapid decline, he became addicted, and it’s sad to see the effect it has on him,” said Mr Walters.

He said Serventy had served 521 days in pre-sentence custody and was still hopeful of eventually beating the drug addiction.

Justice David North said Serventy had an appalling history of offending, particularly to do with drugs.

He sentenced him to 3.5 years’ imprisonment.

Originally published as Kim William Serventy pleads guilty to multiple drug offences