Woman, 47, trafficked meth and cannabis to support her own habit

A 47-year-old Toowoomba woman who trafficked drugs on two separate occasions has been jailed for three years.

Leah Maree Brett had first trafficked methylamphetamine and cannabis over a threemonth period from September 1, 2020, Toowoomba Supreme Court heard on Thursday.

She had a customer base of seven people but after three months she voluntarily stopped dealing drugs, Crown prosecutor Emily Coley told the court.

However, on April 28, 2021, she had supplied a small amount of meth to another person but it wasn’t until August 2021 that she returned to trafficking drugs, she said.

From August 5, 2021, to February 5, 2022, Brett had dealt drugs to a wider customer base of 20 people and there was evidence she had sold the drugs for profit to fund her own meth habit, the court heard.

Ms Coley said that despite Brett being on Centrelink payments at the time there had been a significant amount of transactions into her bank account where she had received $24,000 over the offending period.

Despite a police search of her home in December 2021, Brett had continued to traffic drugs for another two months, she said.

Brett pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking dangerous drugs and one count of supplying a dangerous drug.

Her barrister Wesley Seewald told the court Brett had struggled with drug addiction for a considerable portion of her adult life.

She had taken to dealing drugs as a means to support her own drug habit, he said.

Justice Peter Callaghan said, by reports put before the court, Brett had been “leading a worthy existence” while employed as a disability support worker at the same time as struggling with addiction.

Justice Callaghan sentenced her to three years in jail but ordered she be released on parole as of March 5, 2024.