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A Belconnen woman jailed for drug trafficking on Friday was seen as lucky to escape serving a much tougher sentence because the seized drugs were just seven grams under that which is deemed a much more serious offence. Magistrate James Stewart sentenced Hayley Wood, 30, of Scullin, to two years’ jail for the trafficking offence in the ACT Magistrates Court, reduced to 18 months. Wood was arrested in August last year with 242.9 grams of the drug gamma butyrolactone (GBL). Magistrate Stewart said that should she had been found with more than 250 grams of GBL, the possible maximum sentence was 25 years in jail. Also found guilty of being in receipt of property suspected to be proceeds of crime – namely $16,500 in cash and a Mercedes-Benz GLA45 for which she had paid $32,000 in cash about a month before her arrest – Wood received a head sentence of 20 months’ imprisonment and will be eligible for release in late April next year. Upon release she will be under an 18-month good behaviour order which, if breached, will result in a further, automatic 12-month jail term. She was also fined $1500 for being in possession of two Tasers. In reviewing the pre-sentence report, Magistrate Stewart noted that Wood had been involved in longstanding substance abuse from a young age. Although a man had overdosed and died in her home, this had not been a deterrent to her continuing to traffic in illegal drugs. He said the SMS messages retrieved from her mobile phone indicated the defendant’s level of pride in her drug trafficking, which was carried out at “a wholesale and retail level” and with a level of criminality which was both “organised and lucrative”. When police officers raided her Scullin unit, they found an extensive CCTV network operating at the property and deadbolt locks on internal doors. “This was brazen offending that the defendant was proud about at the time,” he said. He also said the fact that she had two small children, neither of whom had been living with her at the time of her arrest, “must be considered” as part of the sentencing. When Wood had previously appeared in court, she had carried injuries from what her lawyer, Tim Sharman, then described as a result of a New Year’s Eve assault inside Canberra’s prison. On this occasion, she remained silent and attentive throughout her sentencing. Magistrate Stewart described Wood as having a “less than complete realisation of the true nature of her offending” but believed she was “not yet ready to rejoin the community”. He said that the Wood’s potential for rehabilitation was a “key issue going forward”.
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Convicted drug trafficker Hayley Wood. Picture: Facebook
A Belconnen woman jailed for drug trafficking on Friday was seen as lucky to escape serving a much tougher sentence because the seized drugs were just seven grams under that which is deemed a much more serious offence.
Magistrate James Stewart sentenced Hayley Wood, 30, of Scullin, to two years’ jail for the trafficking offence in the ACT Magistrates Court, reduced to 18 months.
Wood was arrested in August last year with 242.9 grams of the drug gamma butyrolactone (GBL).
Magistrate Stewart said that should she had been found with more than 250 grams of GBL, the possible maximum sentence was 25 years in jail.
Also found guilty of being in receipt of property suspected to be proceeds of crime – namely $16,500 in cash and a Mercedes-Benz GLA45 for which she had paid $32,000 in cash about a month before her arrest – Wood received a head sentence of 20 months’ imprisonment and will be eligible for release in late April next year.
Upon release she will be under an 18-month good behaviour order which, if breached, will result in a further, automatic 12-month jail term.
Woods’ seized Mercedes-Benz, paid for with $32,000 in cash and suspected to be proceeds of crime. Picture: ACT Policing
She was also fined $1500 for being in possession of two Tasers.
In reviewing the pre-sentence report, Magistrate Stewart noted that Wood had been involved in longstanding substance abuse from a young age.
Although a man had overdosed and died in her home, this had not been a deterrent to her continuing to traffic in illegal drugs.
He said the SMS messages retrieved from her mobile phone indicated the defendant’s level of pride in her drug trafficking, which was carried out at “a wholesale and retail level” and with a level of criminality which was both “organised and lucrative”.
When police officers raided her Scullin unit, they found an extensive CCTV network operating at the property and deadbolt locks on internal doors.
“This was brazen offending that the defendant was proud about at the time,” he said.
He also said the fact that she had two small children, neither of whom had been living with her at the time of her arrest, “must be considered” as part of the sentencing.
When Wood had previously appeared in court, she had carried injuries from what her lawyer, Tim Sharman, then described as a result of a New Year’s Eve assault inside Canberra’s prison. On this occasion, she remained silent and attentive throughout her sentencing.
Magistrate Stewart described Wood as having a “less than complete realisation of the true nature of her offending” but believed she was “not yet ready to rejoin the community”.
He said that the Wood’s potential for rehabilitation was a “key issue going forward”.
