Drug dealer given 15 months home detention after bust

A well known Tasmanian drug dealer who was shot in the groin during a home invasion has faced court after police found bags of drugs inside. READ THE DETAILS OF THE CHARGES >>

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A DRUG trafficker who has been on the straight and narrow since he was shot in the groin during a home invasion has been sentenced to 15 months home detention.

Damien Neil Smart, 45, pleaded guilty to trafficking MDMA, cannabis and ice and was sentenced in the Burnie Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The court heard police raided Smart’s Kings Meadows unit in October last year and found bags of drugs inside and a 23 gram bag of ice down Smart’s underpants.

His mobile phone was seized and there was direct evidence he had sold drugs to at least 47 customers over a two-week period. The drugs were valued at $7000.

Justice Robert Pearce said Smart had sold drugs to pay for his own $3000 a day a day ice habit and it was evident he was a known supplier in Launceston.

Smart’s life started spiralling out of control when his partner left him in 2017.

He was then the victim of an armed robbery in which two heavily disguised men burst into his unit looking for drugs and money. he was shot and hospitalised and got off drugs during this enforced period of abstinence.

He then moved back in with his parents.

Smart will be fitted with an electronic anklet on Wednesday and be required to be at his parents’ Norwood address at all times.