Ice-addicted mum out of jail after selling stolen guns to fund habit
A meth-addicted woman had only just walked free from jail when she returned to a house she’d previously burgled – this time raiding their gun safe with a co-offender to the tune of $23,000.
Police & Courts
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A METH-addicted mother has been released from jail after she and another woman smashed through a rural home and pinched 15 guns worth a combined $23,000.
Shannon Louise Brown, 32, had just been released from a two-month stint in prison for dozens of stealing and burglary crimes when she returned to one of the homes she’d previously burgled on September 11 last year.
Breaking into the gun safe of the Warrentinna home, Brown took seven firearms and the other woman took the rest, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard.
By the time she was arrested the following day after being identified on CCTV, she had already sold the firearms – but told police where to find them.
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Justice Robert Pearce said Brown had started using ice recreationally in 2017 but quickly became addicted.
She successfully lived drug-free for a time in Western Australia with her partner.
“However your relationship ended. When, later, he took his own life, the trauma led you back to drug use,” Justice Pearce said.
“Unable to fund your addiction by honest means you turned to crime.”
Brown was sent back to prison on September 12 and ordered to serve six months and 21 days in jail after activating the suspended element of her previous sentence.
After pleading guilty to aggravated burglary, stealing firearms and trafficking in firearms, Justice Pearce sentenced her to a drug treatment order as “I am in no doubt of the connection between your drug use and the crimes you committed”.
The sentence means Brown won’t need to return to jail unless she fails to comply with a list of conditions including mandatory therapy for illicit drug addiction.
Justice Pearce said while a residential, live-in treatment had been recommended, the COVID-19 pandemic meant rehabilitation services in Tasmania were limited.
As an alternative, accommodation with a friend was arranged in conjunction with treatment to be delivered by a prison drug and alcohol counsellor.
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