Trafficker sourced meth from his drug dealing older brother: Court

The young man had become addicted to drugs and sourced meth from an older brother which he then trafficked to others.

The Crown accepted that the young man’s drug dealing was at street level.

Ordinarily, family support for a prisoner fronting court was a positive thing, but for Christian Glen Vane it was family who put him there.

The youngest of 11 siblings and step-siblings, the now 21-year-old had grown up with older brothers in and out of prison for various offending including illicit drugs.

Vane’s barrister Shane MacDonald told Toowoomba Supreme Court his client had been introduced to drugs at an early age and became drug addicted.

His client instructed that his older brothers had been a bad influence on him, he said.

Justice Martin Burns said courts from time to time got to understand the family backgrounds of defendant’s and for the most it was positive.

“This prisoner is the youngest of his family,” he noted.

“What hope did he have.”

Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court Vane had spent almost a year in custody since being arrested for trafficking meth and cannabis in Toowoomba over a five-week period from April 16 last year.

She said Vane came to the attention of police targeting one of his older brothers from whom Vane had sourced at least 49g of meth, however, the Crown accepted his dealing was at street level, Ms Petrie said.

Vane pleaded guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs.

Justice Burns commended Vane for having sought out and completed drug rehab courses while in custody and noted he had since reconnected with his ex-partner, the mother of his five-year-old child, and that he planned upon release to join them in North Queensland where he had work and to be a good father.

“It’s good that you’re leaving Toowoomba,” Justice Burns told him.

“You’ve already served enough time.”

Declaring the 357 days pre-sentence custody as time served under the sentence, Justice Burns sentenced Vane to three years in jail but ordered he be released on parole immediately.