Beau Jordan Laffey received jail for trafficking in meth

The Supreme Court heard a convicted Toowoomba drug trafficker made threats to reclaim debts and sold methamphetamine in street-level quantities over a three-month period, prior to his arrest.

BEAU Jordan Laffey met his newborn child through the polished glass panes of the Supreme Court dock after they were separated by his 260 days of pre-sentence custody and the strict limits on prison visits during the COVID-19 pandemic,

Sadly for Laffey and his child, it will be at least another six months before they meet again after he was jailed for a series of drug offences.

The 25-year-old Toowoomba man appeared in the Supreme Court today to plead guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, from November 28, 2019 to February 8, 2020.

The court heard Laffey ran a street-level operation, selling amounts from 0.1-3.5g to at least 27 people.

Crown Prosecutor Matt Le Grand said Laffey would occasionally sell larger amounts.

“(Laffey) made threats to enforce debts,” he said.

He came through on those threats on at least one occasion, on March 18, when Laffey used a baseball bat to smash in a customer’s door.

Six days later police searched Laffey’s vehicle to find 2.72g of pure meth, 24g of cannabis, drug utensils, digital scales and knives.

Acting for the defence, barrister Scott Lynch said Laffey was ill equipped to deal with his addiction.

“His life spiralled out of control,” Mr Lynch said.

However, he added the Laffey was keen to turn his life around and had plans to move away from Toowoomba to put distance between himself and his criminal associates.

“He has new-found hope, because his partner of four years had recently had a baby,” Mr Lynch said.

“Until today he had not seen that child.”

Justice Thomas Bradley ordered a head sentence of four years in jail, with a parole eligibility date of July 22, 2021.