Ayr man, Andrew James Ellis sentenced for sex toy theft plus oxycodone, meth, marijuana stash

A parolee started his crime spree with a theft from a Townsville sex shop before police uncovered a wide range of drugs at his home.

Townsville Supreme Court: Andrew James Ellis sentenced for sex toy theft plus oxycodone, meth, marijuana stash.

A man who was found with an extensive stash of drugs like oxycodone, methamphetamine and marijuana was also dealt with for stealing a sex toy from a business claiming he was “too embarrassed” to make the purchase himself.

Andrew James Ellis appeared in Townsville Supreme Court on Tuesday morning after police executed a search warrant at his Ayr property on September 12 last year.

Crown prosecutor Thomasina Papadimitriou said the man’s first offence started at Cupid’s Cabin in Townsville where he stole a sex toy at the value of $69.95.

The court was told the man who was 37 at the time was “too embarrassed” to make the purchase and tried to pay for it the following day.

In separate offending, when police arrived at the man’s home he was found in the bedroom and threw a box across the room that contained drugs in different clip seal bags, police found 6.589g of substance that included 4.085g of pure meth.

Additionally police found 5g of marijuana, nine Suboxone tablets, 30 oxycodone tablets and one lysergide tablet.

During the search police looked through the man’s phone and found he had arranged to supply a relative with a point of meth and a small amount of marijuana however, Ms Papadimitriou told the court it was not alleged the man had the drugs for a commercial purpose.

She acknowledged that while the man was on parole for prior drug trafficking charges he had not taken the time to reform.

“He returned to drugs even after spending a significant time in custody and even after he convinced the parole board he was suitable for release,” she said.

Defence barrister Tom Hancock instructed by Purcell Taylor Lawyers said the Brisbane-born man who moved to Ayr and worked in carpentry had used meth throughout his life.

He said the man had experienced trauma while growing up and lost his father to cancer while behind bars and was unable to attend the funeral.

Justice David North acknowledged the mad had spent a total of 525 days behind bars already.

“You’ve demonstrated a poor response while on parole, the parole report is disturbing,” His Honour said.

Ellis pleaded guilty to two counts of drug supply charges, five counts of drug possession and one count of stealing.

He was sentenced to 12 months jail, suspended for an operational period of 15 months and will be out on parole immediately.

Originally published as Ayr man, Andrew James Ellis sentenced for sex toy theft plus oxycodone, meth, marijuana stash