Best for drug user to flee city

IF DOUGLAS Wayne Gibbs didn’t get away from alcohol and drug use he would miss his children growing up, a Supreme Court judge has warned him.

Gibbs had replaced an alcohol problem with methylamphetamine use, his barrister David Jones told Toowoomba Supreme Court.

However, the 32-year-old former shearer, who had spent the past 12 months in custody, had work available for him on a property out west, he said.

“He needs to get out of Toowoomba,” Mr Jones submitted.

Gibbs was found with 5.57g of drug substance of which 4.5g was pure methylamphetamine when the car he was a passenger in was stopped by police in Toowoomba on October 2 last year, the court heard.

Initially telling police he had nothing on him, he was ultimately found with a bumbag in his underwear which contained the methylamphetamine, 17g of marijuana, a drug pipe and $200 cash.

Gibbs pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug above the 2g schedule and 10 summary offences including unlawfully using a motor vehicle, two counts of obstructing police and two of receiving tainted property.

He had been just 37 days out of custody on parole when he was found with the drugs and had been returned to custody, the court heard.

Mr Jones said his client had his mother, brother and two children in court supporting him and it had been the first time he had seen his children in 12 months.

His client had work lined up on a property near Quilpie which would take him away from Toowoomba and bad influences, he said.

Gibbs had a full-time release date of September 30 on his previous sentence, the court heard.

Justice Martin Burns noted the Crown had accepted the drugs found were for the defendant’s own personal use.

Taking into account the time Gibbs had spent in custody before sentence, Justice Burns sentenced him to two years in jail but ordered he be eligible to apply for release on parole as of September 30.