Antonio Francesco Salis vows to get off drugs and go straight upon his release from jail this time

The 50-year-old had used drug since he was 18 but now claims he’s ready for rehabilitation – as soon as he gets out of jail.

A 50-year-old man with a drug problem dating back to his teens has assured a Toowoomba court that he will seek drug rehabilitation when released from jail this time.

Antonio Francesco Salis appeared before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Monday, January 22, via video link from Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre to plead guilty to more than 20 offences committed between April 2022 and June 2023.

Some of the offences were committed while Salis was on probation, others while he was on parole and yet others while he was subject to a suspended jail sentence, police prosecutor Rohan Brewster-Webb told the court.

The offences included possessing a small amount of meth and other drugs and utensils, three counts of unlawfully using motor vehicles in Gatton, Highfields and Toowoomba, and four separate service station drive-offs on the Gold Coast each committed when the 50-year-old was driving while disqualified.

Antonio Francesco Salis was jailed for 15 months on January 22, 2024, after pleading guilty before Toowoomba Magistrates Court to a string of offences.

Salis also pleaded guilty to five counts of breaching bail and one of failing to appear in the same Toowoomba court on June 19, 2023.

Mr Brewster-Webb said Salis had a 14-page criminal history and he had spent various periods in jail.

Salis’s solicitor Ryan McCullough, of MacDonald Law, told the court his client had grown up in Texas but his life had spiralled out of control and into drug use at age 18 upon the death of his father.

Salis had periods of abstaining from drug use over the years but tended to relapse when faced with stressful periods in his life, he said.

However, his client had managed to stay drug-free while in custody, even though it was well known there were drugs available in jail, and upon his release this time he wanted to seek drug rehabilitation through parole, Mr McCullough said.

Magistrate Kay Ryan declared the 78 days Salis had spent in custody as time served and sentenced him to a total 15 months in jail but ordered he be eligible to apply for parole as of May 21, 2024.

On each of the four disqualified driving offences, Salis was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years.