Just hours after being sentenced to nine months in prison for drug supply, with a non-parole period of two, a Young grandmother and long-time foster mother has been granted bail after lodging an appeal.
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Cecelia Hardman (also known by the last name Cruden), 47, pleaded guilty to four charges of drug supply (methamphetamine) and one charge of driving with an illicit substance in her blood at Young Local Court on Wednesday.
The court heard Ms Hardman was arrested as part of Strike Force Nandi, an ongoing investigation into the drug trade in Young formed in April last year.
Police gathered evidence over a period of months, which included recording phone conversations and undercover police operations.
Ms Hardman and the central figure in the investigation were observed and recorded supplying methamphetamine to an undercover police operative.
Police said she was an accomplice to the central player in the drug operation, who is in custody with her case still in the courts.
Her solicitor Rachael Power told the court Ms Hardman was embarrassed and ashamed following her arrest and “deeply saddened” that her children had been drawn into the situation.
The court heard she was a single mother of five, a grandmother to a further five and had cared for foster children for the past 26 years.
One foster child is currently living with her.
Ms Power said her client had usually been involved with drugs as a user and had kept her use away from the knowledge of her family and friends.
She said being caught was somewhat of a weight off Ms Hardman’s shoulders as her drug issues were out in the open and she was able to get help.
In sentencing, while considering the affect a custodial sentence would have on her children, local Magistrate Peter Dare S.C said there were no exceptional circumstances that could see her avoid jail time.
“I am satisfied having considered all possible alternatives, that no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate,” he told the court.
“Someone unfamiliar with the more commonplace anti-social dynamics of this community and responding, no doubt, to a case not put before me, might be persuaded to release the offender on appeal or reduce the sentence.”
Ms Hardman immediately appealed the severity of the sentence.
She was granted bail, pending the outcome of the appeal, which will be heard at Wagga District Court on July 28.
Magistrate Dare said he would grant Ms Hardman bail as the length of the non parole section of her sentence was less than the time until the appeal would be heard.
