Dayanna June Janke jailed for ice supply claimed death of mother prompted her return to meth use

The 44-year-old had been relatively crime free since doing jail time for trafficking but the death of her mother forced a relapse, she claimed.

A 44-year-old Toowoomba woman caught dealing meth blamed grief from the death of her mother for turning her back to ice.

Though Dayanna June Janke had been jailed for three years for drug trafficking in 2017, her offending had dropped off considerably until 2021 when she struggled to cope with the death of her mother, her barrister Doug Wilson told Toowoomba District Court.

However, since spending the past 153 days in custody since her arrest, Janke had been trying to rehabilitate herself by attending drug counselling courses in jail, he said.

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie said Janke’s offending came to light after police searched her home on March 7 and seized two mobile phones.

When analysed, police found five messages pertaining to Janke having supplied or offered to supply meth to other people between November 2022 and March 2023, she said.

The most serious of those messages was the supply of 3.5g of meth for $1350, Ms Petrie said.

The search had also turned up seven capsules which contained cocaine, cash, medicines for which she had no prescription and 175g of substance which tested positive for traces of meth but no pure weight had been provided, she said.

Janke appeared in custody to plead guilty to five counts of supplying a dangerous drug and to possessing two mobile phones for the supply of meth, and to possessing dangerous drugs.

Judge Michael Burnett AM said Janke needed supervision in the community and to learn strategies to stay away from drug use and drug users.

Judge Burnett sentenced her to 21 months in jail but, declaring the 153 days pre-sentence custody as time served under the sentence, ordered she be released on parole immediately.