Roma driller Cody Jackson guilty of domestic violence, fraud, meth fuelled crimes

A court heard a driller who holds a supervisory role at a southwest Queensland mine site committed a raft of crimes because he was using meth to deal with a relationship breakdown.

Cody James Hartley Jackson leaving Toowoomba Court after pleading guilty to domestic violence crimes, stealing, fraud, and drug charges.

A drilling supervisor at a southwest Queensland mine site who used meth to deal with a relationship breakdown, threatened to kill his ex-partner and took police on a wild foot chase through Toowoomba backyards.

The most serious offence the Roma fly-in-fly-out worker Cody James Hartley Jackson committed was a domestic violence crime.

The court heard despite a no contact order being in place, Jackson threatened to kill his ex-partner if she told police he breached the order.

“If you c***s call the cops… I’ll come back and f***ing kill you c***s,” he threatened.

Cody James Hartley Jackson leaving Toowoomba Court after pleading guilty to domestic violence crimes, stealing, fraud, and drug charges.

He fronted Toowoomba Magistrates Court this week, where he pleaded guilty to the offence and a raft of other offences he committed within a two-year period.

Jackson pleaded guilty to 16 charges, which included threatening violence, breaching a domestic violence order, obstructing police, fraud, possessing stolen property, drug possession, possession of a knife in public, stealing, and failing to dispose of needles and syringes.

Some of the crimes were in breach of a suspended sentence, others a parole order.

The court heard the 37-year-old had an eight-page criminal history, which most recently included convictions for domestic violence crimes.

He served 91 days in custody following a wild arrest in October 2024 at Toowoomba where police were forced to cordon off a number of streets while a foot chase ensued.

The court heard when officers arrived at Jackson’s home and informed him of his arrest, he ran inside and locked the door before escaping through his back door and taking off over his back fence.

Over the next 17 minutes, Jackson was spotted running through a number of properties before police caught up to him.

The court heard the other charges related to crimes he committed in 2023, where he sold stolen property to Pennywise, fraudulently receiving $140.

He also stole from Woolworths twice and on another occasion a $200 bike.

When he was arrested for that offending, as he was on parole at the time, officers found five points of meth in Jackson’s pocket along with a used needle and syringe in his bag.

Solicitor Paige Hetherington said Jackson was living with his grandfather in Roma and was working full time as rig-hand where he often supervised between three to 10 staff members on the site.

“He earns approximately $3900 per week,” she said.

“Last year he did struggle with some significant mental health issues. He was in a bad place with his relationship with the aggrieved.

“To make matters worse he chose to self-medicate through amphetamines.”

Ms Hetherington said Jackson had struggled with his drug use for 15 years, he was now on a mental health plan and had been prescribed medication.

She noted a risk assessment was done through his mental health plan that found he was deemed a low risk of causing harm to himself and a very low to no risk, of harming others.

“He seems to have turned a new leaf, at least in recent times and perhaps that was somewhat instigated by his 91 days in custody,” she said.

Jackson was sentenced to a six-month jail term and a 12-month probation order, which included a drug testing provision.

As the 91 days he served in pre-sentence custody was declared as time served, he was granted immediate release on parole.

He was also ordered to pay $729 in restitution.