Parolee caught drug driving

A TOOWOOMBA magistrate forwent her usual warning to a disqualified driver not to drive during the disqualification period when she realised “you’re not going anywhere”.

Brandon James Morgan was on parole arising from a seven-year jail sentence when he was pulled over for drug driving on Victoria Street, Toowoomba, on March 26.

The 24-year-old tested positive for meth and cannabis and a police search of his car turned up 5.5g of cannabis, scales for weighing drugs and a pipe for smoking it, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

He was also driving unlicensed, police prosecutor Bettina Trenear told the court.

Due to his offending on parole, he was taken back into custody and spent the ensuing 47 days in jail before appearing via video link from the Brisbane Correctional Centre on Thursday to plead guilty to those charges.

His solicitor Claire Graham, of Skuse Graham Lawyers, told the court her client was sentenced to a seven-and-a-half year jail term in 2020 for an armed robbery in company with wounding of a man in Gatton as well as drug offences.

Morgan had a “full-time” release date in March 2027 but had been released on parole in August last year, she said.

Her client would potentially remain in custody for some time yet, Ms Graham submitted.

Magistrate Kay Ryan sentenced Morgan to three months in jail but suspended the term in full for nine months and disqualified him from driving for three months.

Ordinarily, Ms Ryan warns disqualified drivers not to drive in that time as that offence is a contempt for court orders and can lead to actual jail time.

“I probably don’t have to tell you not to drive in that time because you’re not going anywhere,” she told Morgan, who chuckled “no”.