Drug trafficking mum

At 50, Toowoomba mother of two has her first stint behind bars

A 50-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba mother will spend at least a year behind bars after admitting to trafficking in ice (methylamphetamine).

Maria Rita Gaias had been stopped by police as she drove out of a Toowoomba hotel car park on October 11, last year, and was found to have 10.48g of crystaline substance.

When examined, the substance was found to have 8.048g of methylamphetamine equating to a 75% purity, Crown prosecutor Paul Bannister told Toowoomba Supreme Court.

Police investigations found Gaias had supplied the drug about 31 times over a one month period to about 13 customers.

Most of the supply incidents were offers to supply with one actual supply, the court heard.

She had spent the ensuing six months in custody which her barrister David Jones told the court had been the longest time his client had been drug free in the past 30 years.

Mr Jones said his client had been introduced to drugs in her early 20s by her then partner and in recent times had taken to selling household property to cover the costs of her addiction.

His client had been doing courses to better herself while in custody and had become something of an example to younger inmates, he said.

Justice Martin Burns noted Gaias had been extended leniency by courts in the past when appearing on drug offences and that she had been subject to a three-month suspended jail term when committing these offences.

“It’s an extraordinary thing... a 50-year-old mother going to jail for the first time,” he said.

With her two sons watching on from the public gallery, Justice Burns took into account Giais had already spent 189 days in pre-sentence custody and sentenced her to three years in jail but ordered she be released on parole on October 18 after she had served a total 12 months behind bars.