Pot peddler narrowly avoids jail
A YOUNG hospitality worker has avoided jail after she was caught trafficking marijuana to people across Townsville to make ends meet.
Kirralee Shay Pollock, 21, on Monday faced Townsville Supreme Court, where she pleaded guilty to a string of drug offences including trafficking drugs and knowingly supplying drugs to a minor.
The court was told the kebab shop worker started selling marijuana during the coronavirus pandemic after losing hours at her job, where she was not eligible for income support payments.
Crown prosecutor Joshua Francis said the young woman sold drugs from the Aitkenvale rental property she shared with her teenage brother and used the encrypted messaging app Snapchat to advertise to customers.
“Evidence of her illegal activity came to light when police searched her home,” Mr Francis said.
“An examination of her phone revealed messages that she sent to people on Snapchat … (In) those messages she would list prices, quantities, opening hours.
“She kept track of the debits on her phone.”
Officers raided Pollock’s home just days after her 20th birthday and found 220g of marijuana, a small amount of cash, a bong and other drug paraphernalia.
Over the course of the trafficking period, which spanned from October 2019 to May 2020, the 21-year-old had a customer base of about 70 people.
The court was told she sold up to 98g a week and turned over an estimated $375 to $1750.
Both prosecution and defence agreed a head sentence between two to three years was suitable in the circumstances but defence barrister Ross Malcomson said Pollock should not spend time behind bars.
He asked Chief Justice Judge Catherine Holmes to exercise her discretion and consider Pollock’s youth, honest admissions to police and remorse and not impose a custodial sentence.
He said the 21-year-old had remained offence-free for the past 15 months while on bail awaiting sentence.
“She appears today under absolutely no misapprehension as to the seriousness of
the offending and appreciates … she may well receive a term of actual imprisonment,” he said.
Mr Malcomson said Pollock, who was a heavy social user of marijuana, “fell into the trap” of selling drugs because of the “pressure” to pay her family’s rent, purchase food and pay her little brother’s school expenses.
“She was paying bills for both her mother’s property and assisting her mother as best she could but was also having to pay for her own expenses,” he said.
“This offending was to support herself and her family members. There is no suggestion when police arrived that they noted property or otherwise that suggested she was living a lavish lifestyle.”
Pollock, who had an un
blemished criminal history prior to this offending, will not spend a single night behind bars after she was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence with immediate release on parole.
Chief Justice Holmes was stern as she told the 21-yearold she needed to stay out of trouble or risk ending up behind bars.
“It seems to me the unusual case where the community is better served by enabling you to continue your rehabilitation in the community rather than in custody,” she said.
“That is two and a half years of the straight and narrow. This is a terrible thing to have on your record but you can make your way past this if you just keep out of trouble.”