Jail smuggler skittled

Woman tried to sneak ice into prison using bag of lollies

A CORIO woman who tried to smuggle drugs into prison by hiding them in a Skittles packet has escaped jail time.

Naomi Gallagher, 31, was remanded on Friday and appeared before the Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday on charges, including possessing methamphetamine, possessing cannabis and bringing methamphetamine into a jail.

The court had previously heard Gallagher was visiting a friend in prison when she tried to sneak in ice by hiding it inside a packet of Skittles and passing it on during a routine visit.

In sentencing, Magistrate Michael Coghlan told the 31year-old all the matters should have been finalised in November last year.

“You failed to appear in court on numerous occasions,” Mr Coghlan said.

“These are matters that should have been dealt with by the court almost 10 months ago.”

He said her behaviour showed blatant disregard for the court system.

“Fundamentally you hope that when people are sentenced to a term of imprisonment — especially those who’ve had problems or been affected by drugs — they would not have access to drugs,” he said.

“She got them into the prison and was then very close to getting them to the prisoner.

“Surely it is of great concern that this might be able to occur because then the addiction may be able to continue on release or drugs may be distributed to others within in the prison.”

Gallagher’s lawyer, Mary Foley, said her client had clean record until recently and in a period when she was addicted.

“She hasn’t offended since then, she has taken seriously the attempts at rehabilitation and it seems to have worked this year,” Ms Foley said.

“She’s had a fairly harsh lesson by being remanded and this is her first time in custody.”

Mr Coghlan sentenced Gallagher to a 12-month community corrections order and cancelled her licence.

“What has now occurred is that you’ve detoxed from methamphetamines and you’ve been attending rehab and have been clean for seven months now: that is obviously of significance,” he said.

“You have to now not only comply with the conditions of the CCO but you must also not commit any offences while that order is in place — if you do relapse all of these charges will come up for resentencing.”