A detention centre inmate who ran a lucrative drugs business from his cell while awaiting deportation for similar offences has been jailed for 18 years.
And the judge sentencing him at the same time lashed the Commonwealth and detention centre contractor Serco, suggesting they should foot the bill for the drug lord’s incarceration, as he should not have been able to get away with his offending while under their guard.
Andrew John Hickling was running a lucrative drugs operation from a Northam detention centre.
Andrew Hickling, 35, was on parole after being convicted of other drugs charges and detained at Northam’s Yongah Hill Detention Centre in 2022, awaiting a transfer to his home country of New Zealand.
But the father-of-two continued operating a drug-dealing business, facilitating the sale, pick-up and delivery of large quantities of methamphetamine and other drugs, as well as the exportation of dirty money.
Police found evidence on multiple phones Hickling owned that he had amassed millions of dollars from the enterprise.
On Tuesday, Perth District Court Judge Nicholas Egan told Hickling his offending was “exceptionally serious” as he was “towards the top end” of the operation, directing others to pick up parcels of drugs and money delivered through Australia Post and on trucks coming into the state from over east.
The court heard Hickling was also arranging for drugs to be brought into the detention centre.
“Your offending was breathtakingly brazen,” Egan said.
Four men who worked for Hickling were also arrested and charged and have since been convicted through the courts.
Courier Anthony Duggan was slapped with an eight-year prison term for his involvement, and truck drivers Amit Sharma and Balwinder Singh were sentenced to 10 and 11 years behind bars, respectively, for their involvement.
Another of Hickling’s men, Bryan Wells, was given a 13-year sentence after intercepted messages found him to be heavily involved in the business.
But Egan said Hickling’s extensive 15-page criminal record and his status near the top of the business would see him facing a lengthier term of incarceration, which would come at “substantial” cost to the taxpayer.
“The community might well expect that the Yongah Hill Detention Centre would be managed in such a way so as to prevent your offending from occurring,” he said.
“Failure to do that has not only resulted in you causing for drugs to be brought into Western Australia and supplied to others, but also West Australian taxpayers bearing the financial cost of you being remanded in prison at Hakea since your arrest.”
Egan said it cost $135,000 a year to keep a person in custody, and suggested the Commonwealth or Serco, who managed Yongah Hill, should foot the bill. He urged the state’s prosecutor to raise the matter with the WA government.
Andrew John Hickling was running a lucrative drugs operation from a Northam detention centre.
Egan also told the court that in preparation for Hickling’s sentence, he had visited Hakea Prison in recent weeks to see whether inmates there were given the opportunity to rehabilitate through programs that would determine the extent of their willingness to change.
He described the conditions there as “critical”, telling the court the workforce at the prison was running at a 25 per cent deficit, which had a knock-on effect on time spent out of cells, access to programs, and contact with visitors.
“Detainees are double-bunked in cells, although as many as 30 remandees are triple-bunked, which means that a third mattress is placed on the floor, and that mattress limits the capacity for remandees to move around the cell,” he said.
“The limited time out of cells has led to or materially contributed to an increase in mental health issues amongst remandees.”
Egan said a multidisciplinary committee had recently been created to address the issue.
He said while he felt Hickling had suffered “some hardship” during his time at Hakea, he did not feel the 35-year-old had shown remorse for his offending, and had bragged about “flooding Perth” with drugs.
In handing down a combined sentence of 18 years for eight counts of drug-related offences, Egan denied Hickling eligibility for parole to ensure he did not return to Yongah Hill before his inevitable deportation to New Zealand.
“I have no confidence that those managing the facility would have systems in place that could prevent [further offending] from occurring,” he said.
Hickling will be released in April 2040.
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