Getting out of Toowoomba drug user’s secret to getting clean

The woman had gone from the grip of meth to getting clean and not offending, her lawyer told the court.

The 26-year-old woman had moved away from Toowoomba to get clean of drugs, the city’s Magistrates Court heard.

A 26-YEAR-OLD woman who had been in “the grip of meth addiction” had moved away from Toowoomba and poor influences to get clean.

Solicitor Brendan Ryan, of Mulcahy Ryan Lawyers, told Toowoomba Magistrates Court that his client Paige Candice Veca had “still been in the grip of meth addiction” in 2019 and facing serious indictable offences.

However, the 26-year-old had removed herself from Toowoomba in June last year and had since stayed out of trouble, he said.

Veca pleaded guilty to driving with meth in her system on Baker St, Toowoomba, on a probationary licence on December 22, 2019, driving with meth in her system on James St on June 6, last year, and failing to report to police on bail on three occasions.

Mr Ryan said in regard to the breaches of bail, on the first occasion his client had forgotten to report, the second she had been sick and on the third occasion she had been 70 minutes late.

Mr Ryan said he calculated that since his client was put on bail with reporting conditions since June 6 last year she had reported 60 times.

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark noted that these two drug driving offences took the number of times Veca had been caught driving with illicit substances in her system in the last five years to four.

Mr Stark placed her on 12 months probation and disqualified her from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for a total 12 months.