A DRUG-ADDICTED single mother of six who dragged some family members into helping her peddle methamphetamine (ice) around the Young district has been jailed.
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Alison Kathleen Jones, of Boorowa, was swept up in a police anti-drugs operation code-named Operation Nandi on February 13 and has been in custody since.
She wept in the witness box in Wagga District Court on Friday as she apologised to her family and the community for dealing ice to feed her own habit.
"I think of my children and what it has done to them," 42-year-old Jones said.
She cried again later in the day as Judge Jennifer English handed down six jail sentences for various drug supply offences that will keep Jones behind bars until January 12, 2016.
Judge English described Jones as a small scale street level drug dealer, but the principal of an operation that also included her 21-year-old son Alex, at least two other relatives and 49-year-old Cecilia Cruden.
Judge English said it was truly appalling that Jones involved some of her children, and at least twice sold drugs while a grandchild was in Jones's South Street home.
The judge read through details of an undercover sting that netted Jones and others from about August last year.
It involved a female police undercover operative with the fake name of Charlie who regularly bought ice from Jones.
Deals included $300 for one gram of ice and culminated in the handing over of 20g of ice with six per cent purity at Pheasants Nest on October 8.
Despite being suspicious of Charlie after another person in the deal was arrested by police soon after, Jones continued to sell drugs at least until late October.
Judge English detailed almost 20 transactions from August 20 until October 27.
People called Scott, Mick, Belinda and Tess, and others whose names were not known, were heard on telephone taps arranging to buy ice from Jones.
A "point" of ice was sold to people for $100, while others bought $300 worth of the drug or amounts in between.
Jones's solicitor, David Barron, said Jones did not profit from her drug enterprise other than to meet her own drug needs.
Jones said in the witness box she was introduced to ice by a former partner.
"The relationship did not last, but the addiction did," Mr Barron put to Jones.
"Yes," she replied.
Jones said she was physically clean of ice three months after she went into custody, but still grappled with the psychological hold it had on her.
"I have been clean since I went in. I don't want to touch it again because of what it has done to me and my family," Jones said in answer to a question by Mr Barron.
Crown solicitor Virginia Morgan said in her submission that over a three-month period Jones was dealing on a "fairly regular basis".
"It is the Crown's submission she was trafficking to a significant degree and while it was not a large and well-organised operation she was the principal of it," Ms Morgan said.
The court heard Alex Jones was sentenced to a minimum four months' jail earlier this year for six counts of supplying a prohibited drug, while Cruden was initially sentenced to nine months in prison on four counts of supplying a prohibited drug, but the sentence was reduced on appeal to the District Court to a six-month suspended sentence.
- The Daily Advertiser
