Cindy Ellen Cochrane: Mother-of-five and uni student supplied meth to fellow pupils

A mother-of-five will give birth in prison after she was caught supplying drugs to university students while she was also studying, a court has heard.

A MOTHER of four will give birth to her fifth child behind bars after she was jailed for drug trafficking.

Cindy Ellen Cochrane had targeted fellow university students to whom she sold methamphetamine while studying a science and psychology degree.

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told Toowoomba Supreme Court when the university was on a break she had sold the drug in her home town of Dalby.

The 42-year-old had come to the attention of police who had targeted her supplier, Ms Petrie said.

Cochrane’s drug dealing had been over a two month period in 2019, she said.

She was six months pregnant and her pregnancy was considered “high risk” but Queensland Health oversaw such births at the Women’s Prison in Brisbane where she was likely to be sent as that correctional centre was closer to hospitals, Ms Petrie said.

Cochrane pleaded guilty to trafficking meth.

Her barrister Scott Lynch said his client had been introduced to the alleged drug supplier leading to her recommencing her drug habit and the subsequent trafficking.

However, since her arrest his client had taken significant steps to get away from drug use and since being pregnant had not used any drugs, he said.

Cochrane was held in high regard among her community having started a charity to support people with cancer after her daughter was diagnosed with cancer, Mr Lynch submitted.

Justice Martin Burns said Cochrane had taken to selling drugs with “great enthusiasm” and noted she had complained to her alleged supplier that he couldn’t keep up with her orders for meth.

Acknowledging time in jail would be more difficult for her in her circumstances and accepting her steps to rehabilitate, Justice Burns sentenced Cochrane to three years in jail but ordered she be released on parole as of June 21, 2022.