Addict back in jail
A DRUG mule who was jailed after being busted with $330,000 worth of methamphetamine strapped to his testicles lasted only a “few short weeks” on parole before returning to the drug trade.
Jack Matthew Walker, 26, pleaded guilty to seven counts of supplying a dangerous drug as well as other drug-related offences in Townsville District Court yesterday.
The court heard Walker was on parole when police raided his Belgian Gardens home on May 16.
He had been sentenced to eight years’ jail after being convicted on serious drug possession and trafficking charges in 2018.
Walker was caught at Townsville Airport with up to $330,000 worth of methylamphetamine strapped to his testicles in January 2016.
When Walker’s home was raided in May he attempted to conceal a mobile phone under his leg and then refused to provide police with its pin code or use his thumbprint to open the device.
Analysis of that phone and another formed the basis of the seven charges of supplying methamphetamine.
Officers also found other dangerous drugs in Walker’s possession.
Defence barrister David James said Walker’s latest offending and the more serious incidents that saw him punished with a lengthy prison term came from an addiction to drugs.
“He is not a young man but still has prospects of turning his life around,” Mr James said.
“He hasn’t had the benefit of a drug rehabilitation course and instructs me he wishes to pursue drug rehabilitation.”
The court heard Walker was unemployed after he was released from prison but in the future had work prospects with family members.
He had also been living with former associates at the time of his latest arrest but plans to move in with his mother the next time he is released from prison.
“(You) reoffended almost within days, certainly within a few short weeks or months since your release from custody,” Judge John Coker said.
“Unless you change your ways, the future ahead of you will simply be longer and longer terms of imprisonment.”
Walker was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for the latest offences, to be served concurrently with the remainder of the eight-year sentence that still hangs over his head.
Having been in custody since May, he will be eligible for parole in three months.