ICE MADAM CRUSHED
11-year jail term for $1m drug matriarch
THE Far North’s ice queen has been shut down and locked up.
Natalie De Jong (left) has been jailed for 11 years after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine and MDMA.
The 50-year-old was at the centre of a busy drug business, fully-staffed, with a willing customer base, ready access to drugs and a million-dollar turnover in 18 months.
She operated from a home at Oleander St, Holloways Beach, complete with a network of surveillance cameras.
De Jong was injected at least once a day with ice but was still able to successfully operate the business using a series of mobile phones.
Her 11-year sentence is regarded as the longest in at least 10 years in the Far North and she will not be eligible for parole until 2025.
Justice James Henry described her activities as “far beyond” that of a daily methamphetamine addiction.
“She seems to have commanded great loyalty,” he said.
“This was a major commercial enterprise going far beyond what was needed to feed a habit.”
TO HER closest confidantes and customers Natalie De Jong was “mumsy”.
She was a centrepiece of Cairns’ drug trade for months and was a consummate businesswoman, with a full staff, customer base, ready access to illicit substances and $1 million turnover within 18 months.
Now De Jong has pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine and MBMA.
The ripples of damage her dealing likely caused to the community through affiliated crime is tough to assess. That has come to an end, however, with one of the longest jail sentences handed down to a Far North drug offender in recent memory.
Senior police said Justice Jim Henry’s comments while handing down the 11-year sentence about her detrimental effect on the Cairns community were “significant” but did not “realistically address the consequential crime”.
“The property crime, the offences of violence, the things that people see because of the drug use in this community is significant and you’d hope the sentence would send a message in that regard,” Far North police Major and Organised Crime Squad Sen-Sgt Kevin Goan said outside court.
At the height of the drug dealings, her Oleander St home in Holloways Beach was a hive of activity with security cameras watching for police, while inside De Jong spent her days on mobile phones.
Her “doctor”, convicted drug offender Malcolm Colefax, would inject her once or twice a day with meth and the Cairns Supreme Court heard, although she was a drug addict, she remained at a “functional level” to operate the business.
“She seems to have commanded great loyalty,” Justice Henry said. “This was a major commercial enterprise going far beyond what was needed to feed a habit.”
Police raids throughout their 18-month sting yielded cash, drugs and weapons including a taser and gold knuckle dusters engraved with “don’t f**k with Nat”. Her son Danny, 25, was jailed for 7½ years for his role.