Crew ready for all kinds of trouble

AS Tasmania wakes to a wild and windy day, spare a thought for the SES crews, already up and hard at work. Among them are volunteers like Liana Knight, left, Paula Bryan, Kylie Baumback and Lynda Gill, who are among a growing number of women joining the SES.

A MAN who stashed the drug ice in bushland at Warrane will be sentenced next week.

Wayne Thomas Johnson, 44, pleaded guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance.

The Supreme Court in Hobart heard on Monday that Johnson hid the drug in a tin under a tree at Warrane. Police found the tin on November 29 last year, and identified Johnson in December as the person who hid the drug in it.

The court heard police installed a surveillance camera in the area and it recorded Johnson coming and going on multiple occasions in December, January and February. He was arrested in June.

The Crown prosecutor said the surveillance footage and police searches of the tin implicated Johnson in trafficking of 86g of ice, with a street value of $51,618-$86,000, depending on the size of the deals. But the prosecution accepted the figure could be 62.92g, with an estimated street value of between $37,752 and $62,900, as some of the drug may have been counted by police twice.

Johnson’s lawyer, Garth Stevens, said the court and the community ought to be concerned that police found an initial 14.717g of ice in November, and identified Johnson as handling it in December, but did not act.

“Further methylamphetamine is allowed to go into the community when it could have been nipped in the bud in De- cember,” Mr Stevens said.

“The inference I draw is they were trying to accumulate enough of the drug to [amount to] a trafficable quantity … There’s no explanation as to why this was allowed to occur.”

Mr Stevens also said there was no suggestion Johnson was involved in trafficking after February 20.

“The trafficking concluded prior to interception and of the accused’s own volition,” he said.

He said Johnson had “known nothing but prison and parole his entire adult life”.

“He feels trapped in the system,” Mr Stevens said.

Acting Justice David Porter remanded Johnson in custody and expects to sentence him on Tuesday.