Undone by meth texts
Mum stashed drugs, cash at home
AN EXPECTANT mother who tried to claim that a large amount of pure methylamphetamine was left behind at her home by a party guest was brought undone by messages on her mobile phone, and cash stashed in her home.
Police raided Claudia Faye Costello’s Warwick home on August 6, 2021, and seized almost 14g of a crystal substance that was stashed in several places throughout the residence.
Later forensic testing found that the substance contained about 10.3g of pure meth.
On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Emily Coley told the Toowoomba Supreme Court that when presented with the drugs, 22-year-old Costello told police that they were not hers and that someone had left them in her home after a party.
Despite distancing herself from the drugs, police went on to find about $3700 in cash within the home.
The court was told Costello surrendered her mobile phone, which contained text messages detailing evidence of at least two offers from her to sell meth.
Police charged Costello with two counts of supplying a dangerous drug, one of possessing the schedule one drug in excess of 2g and three lesser drug charges.
She pleaded guilty to all charges.
Defence barrister Stephen Kissick told the court that there was no dispute that his client was selling drugs, but he said that she had cleaned up her life in the months after the raid.
The court was told Costello was a mother of one child and was three months pregnant with her second.
“The partner she is with now is not a drug user, there are no drugs in her life and she is three months pregnant,” Mr Kissick said.
“Her new partner has moved out to Warwick to be with her.”
Given her young age and modest criminal history, Mr Kissick asked the court to jail his client, but give her immediate parole so that she could access drug rehabilitation services in the community.
Justice David Boddice agreed.
“You seem to have taken steps to turn your life around and it seems those steps have been successful,” he said.
“You have good prospects for rehabilitation, but time will tell.”
Justice Boddice sentenced Costello to two years in jail with immediate parole.
“You have a very good reason to stay away from drugs; you are expecting a child and the use of drugs would only harm that child,” he told the young mother.