METH CARTEL SCHEME FOILED
Woman jailed for high-level drug offences
A TOWNSVILLE woman linked to a plan to buy meth from a man claiming to be linked to a Mexican drug cartel has been jailed.
Kylie Anne Barsley was arrested three times over the course of six weeks, each time while behind the wheel of her red Audi.
The searches of her vehicle uncovered $200,000 cash and 188g of pure ice.
Barsley faced Townsville Supreme Court on Thursday where she was sentenced for a string of serious drug offences including possessing dangerous drugs over the schedule.
She was also sentenced for two fraud charges and attempting to pervert the course of justice after she faked the will of her slain partner, former boxing champion Quinton Donahue, and used the phony document to have his body cremated against the will of his family.
Crown Prosecutor Carly Hoyer said Barsley was on bail for the dishonesty offending when she was caught in police crosshairs again as officers began investigating her suspected drug use in August 2018.
Ms Hoyer said screenshots obtained by police showed a woman co-accused with Barsley speaking with a man from South Australia in September 2018 about sourcing drugs.
“(He) stated he had a connection to a Mexican cartel and was able to source 1kg of methamphetamine,” she said.
The man asked Barsley to prove their legitimacy before she paid for him and an associate to travel to Townsville.
The four co-accused were intercepted in Barsley’s red Audi on October 3, 2018. When searched, police found $151,430 cash hidden in different parts of the car.
Six weeks after this, police saw Barsley’s red Audi driving erratically with her coaccused riding shotgun.
When the vehicle was searched police found $52,050 cash hidden in a “sophisticated” concealment device.
The next day, on November 19, 2018 Barsley and her co-accused were again intercepted travelling on the Bruce Highway driving towards Townsville.
Officers searched the car and found meth worth up to $300,000 hidden inside.
“The Crown alleges the defendant intended to purchase at least 1kg of meth using the cash that was seized,” Ms Hoyer said.
“The most serious aspect of the offending … was her commercial possession of a significant quantity of methamphetamine following her third arrest.
“She stood to financially benefit directly from the sale of those drugs.”
Ms Hoyer said Barsley’s offending “manipulated” the justice system for her own benefit and resulted in great stress to her late partner’s family after his body was cremated rather than buried as is Indigenous tradition.
Barsley’s barrister Alastair
Mcdougall said that his client had been subject to “moderately onerous” bail conditions after she spent just over a year and eight months in custody on remand.
He argued she should be allowed to remain in the community, on parole, to allow her to care for her grandchild after not reoffending while on bail.
In sentencing, Chief Justice Catherine Holmes said Barsley showed no remorse for her offending and that her late partner’s mother died before receiving closure or justice.
“You did pervert the course of justice because none of (the will) was authentic,” she said.
Justice Holmes said Barsley told a “succession of lies” to police and claimed to be unaware of the money found in her possession at the same time as saying it was from a pokies win or her superannuation.
“You were obviously going to make a lot of money out of this. There is no suggestion you were anyone’s underling,” she said.
In sentencing, Justice Holmes said she took into account Barsley’s upbringing and behaviour in custody where she contributed to a book about children whose parents are in jail.
Barsley was given a head sentence of eight years with the 622 days she spent on remand considered time already served.
She will be eligible to apply for parole in December.