A Hobart man who got caught up in a Police surveillance operation while out buying cocaine to share with his friends three days before Christmas in 2018 will most likely not spend any time in jail.
In his passing comments on the sentence, Chief Justice Alan Blow said then 23-year-old Jordyn Jack Webb visited drug dealers from Sydney “at a place in Hobart” in December 2018, unknowingly being observed by the police.
Acting as an “intermediary”, Webb bought “a quantity of cocaine” – around 10 ounces or $50,000 worth – that was meant to be for both personal use and shared five ways between friends who had given him money to “buy the drug in bulk”.
Around 4 months later in April 2019, Police executed a search warrant at Webb’s home where he voluntarily went to the Hobart police station, “cooperated with the police and made significant admissions”.
Chief Justice Blow said Webb was charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, which he pleaded guilty to, as “most of the cocaine” he had in his possession was for the purpose of supply to a purchaser.
“In relation to the quantity it was intended to be kept for personal use, I do not think I should regard that as trafficking, although it was against the law,” Justice Blow said.
Now 28-years-old, separated and sharing a child, Webb has no significant prior convictions, an excellent work record, but became a recreational user of cocaine in his late teens or early 20s.
“You very much regret that you got yourself into this situation and that you have placed your employment, and your liberty and your relationship with your child, at risk,” Chief Justice Blow said.
He said as Webb has “stayed out of trouble” since the bust, he believed the “most appropriate course” was a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
“You need to be very careful to keep out of trouble or you might find yourself back here with an application for the suspended sentence to be activated,” Chief Justice Blow said.
