“Your Honour, in my 50 years in the criminal justice system I must say that this is one of the most bizarre set of facts that I have come across,” barrister William Walsh told Magistrate Philip Stewart in Parkes Local Court on Friday, August 11.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Representing former Tichborne woman Kristy Osborne, Mr Walsh said his client had significant psychological and psychiatric problems and sought the assistance of a professional person.
“As a result of that association with that professional person, and through that professional person [she] became addicted to illicit drugs and in fact is now charged with supplying that person with an illicit drug,” he said.
According to police facts tendered in court, Strikeforce Sunning was established by Lachlan Local Area Command detectives in October 2016 to investigate information that a NSW Health Worker at Parkes was involved in the supply of the prohibited drug Crystal Methylamphetamine, commonly known as ice.
The investigation was given high priority due to this health worker coming into contact with vulnerable people, seeking assistance for mental health and drug related issues.
At 6.14pm on November 10, Osborne received a phone call from the health worker, which police were monitoring, who requested a “half G/big one” from her.
At 8.50am on November 30, police attended the residence of Osborne on the Newell Highway at Tichborne and executed a search warrant.
Police located a small amount (0.2 grams) of ice and a small amount of cannabis.
Osborne was taken to Parkes Police Station where she admitted supplying the health worker.
She pleaded guilty to the possession charges May 15 and the supply charge on June 5 of this year.
Magistrate Stewart said the offence of supply carries potential imprisonment of two years as well as significant fines.
“I am prepared to make a finding that she was in a weakened psychological state at the time that she was introduced, by the person named in the facts, to the drug ice,” he said.
“The objective seriousness is at the lower end with a single count of supply effectively back to her supplier or back to the person that introduced her to the drug because she had the drug available at the time is therefore to be a one-off issue. It’s not a matter where the court would, in my view, impose a full time custodial sentence,” he said.
Osborne was found guilty of supplying a prohibited drug (0.5 grams of ice), and two counts of possessing a prohibited drug (0.2 grams ice and cannabis leaf).
She was fined $2600 and placed on a good behaviour bond for three years.
