Becky-Lee Rametta jailed for her role in trafficking operation

A Toowoomba mum worked as a drug mule and driver to feed her addiction, in clear violation of a suspended jail sentence.

IN THE past six years, the courts have treated Becky-Lee Rametta with mercy.

As her drug offending escalated, she was given community-based detention orders, including suspended jail sentences, probation and parole.

But yesterday she ran out of second chances, with Supreme Court Justice Thomas Bradley handing down an 18-month jail term.

The 26-year-old Toowoomba mum had pleaded guilty to trafficking, supplying and possessing dangerous drugs.

The court heard Rametta worked for about a month as a drug mule and driver.

Crown Prosecutor Alysha Ballantyne said Rametta assisted her co-offender in trafficking in street-level quantities of methamphetamine, by delivering and buying the drug.

While the co-offender ran the operation for profit, Rametta wanted a short-term pay-off.

“Her role was to obtain drugs for her own use,” Ms Ballantyne said.

Worryingly, Rametta committed the offences while on a three-month suspended jail sentence, ordered on February 12, for possession of a taser and methamphetamine.

Acting for the defence, barrister Frank Martin said his client had battled addiction and had maintained long periods of sobriety, only to fall off the wagon in times of stress.

“There is some hope for her,” he said.

“Even though she is a drug addict, and she has not done anything to get help, when she gets out of jail she wants to get help from a doctor.

“She wants to move away from Toowoomba and try to stay away from drugs.”

In sentencing, Justice Thomas Bradley said it was a shame Rametta had not sought professional help after her arrest for trafficking on March 19.

He advised her to use her time in jail constructively and to get clean.

“(Methamphetamines) cause huge problems in the community, they destroy the lives of people who use them and very badly affect the families of people who use them,” Justice Bradley said.

“Most importantly they affect people who should be able to look to the users for their safety and you know this.

“Your history shows a process that is quite saddening for someone who is only 26,” Justice Bradley said.

Rametta received a head sentence of 18 months in jail with a parole release date fixed at June 10, 2021.