Antonio Francesco Salis pleads guilty to cluster of petty drug, property offences

The court heard a man had a tough time dealing with the death of close family members so he reached for the syringe when he should have reached for a counsellor.

Antonio Francesco Salis pleads guilty to cluster of petty drug, property offences.

The 82 days that Antonio Francesco Salis spent in presentence custody gave him time to think about what triggers his drug addiction.

The answer was loss.

On Friday the Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard Salis’ 11 pages of criminal history consisted of spikes in drug offences linked to the death of a close family member.

It started when his father died when Salis was 19-years-old.

He hit the drugs hard and ultimately lost a Brisbane Broncos scholarship.

Again, in 2006, he went off the rails when his daughter died a few seconds after she was born.

The last spike started in January this year after his pet died.

“It was the only thing in his life that was dependent on him,” defence solicitor Amber Acreman said.

The court heard Salis engaged in a cluster of 13 petty drug and traffic offences throughout the year for which he pleaded guilty to yesterday.

They included driving and riding in stolen cars, two counts of drugged driving, two counts of possessing a knife in public and several drug charges.

Police prosecutor Natalie Bugden told the court that during each arrest Salis co-operated with the sworn officers and volunteered information about the methamphetamines, cannabis and syringes he had in his possession.

Sergeant Bugden added that all but one of the offences were committed while Salis was subject to parole.

In sentencing, Magistrate Kay Ryan noted that offending while on parole exposed Salis to a jail sentence with no fixed parole date and given a backlog of applications before the Parole Board he would easily serve the whole sentence behind bars.

“It is taking up to nine months to even get a hearing before the Parole Board,” she said.

“You have what one would call an unenviable criminal history.

“You have had the benefit of parole and suspended sentences in the past.”

Ms Ryan sentenced Salis to six months’ jail for the one offence that he committed outside of the parole term – an unlawful use of a motor vehicle charge from August 16.

After recording the 82 days in pre-sentence custody, Ms Ryan releases Salis on immediate parole.

She further suspended his licence for three years and added an 18-month probation term for the remaining offences that included extra provisions that Salis engage with mental health treatment and submit to drug testing.