A British man who was tackled by police after being caught with a 'bum bag' of drugs at Lexton's Rainbow Serpent Music Festival has pleaded guilty to trafficking.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Harry Dennis, 21, appeared in the Ballarat Ballarat Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon after admitting to trafficking drugs MDMA and ketamine.
Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Clint Prebble said on January 26 at 10.50pm, police saw Dennis near the main festival stage with ziplock bags in a bumbag.
When approached by police, the guilty man said the 75 capsules in the bag had MDMA in them. He was arrested by police, before breaking free and running for 30 metres, before he was tackled and restrained.
Senior Constable Prebble said Dennis was found to have 11 love heart-shaped ecstasy table, 9.45 grams of ketamine in 21 ziplock bags and cannabis. His mobile phone showed evidence of trafficking prior to the festival.
Dennis' defence lawyer told the court he believed his client was in Australia on a bridging visa, but his intention was to go home immediately after he was released, following being a "model inmate". The lawyer requested Dennis' 50 days in detention be taken as time served, so he could return to Great Britain.
The defence counsel said Dennis was "ashamed and embarrassed" by his behaviour, having been told he could get into the festival for free if he trafficked drugs, and was under "no illusions of the impact of drugs" following a number of overdoses at music festivals.
Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz said following a number of arrests at the festival, there were "some concerns amongst general policing community that potentially young people were being encouraged to go along and sell drugs".
She told the court ordinarily, she would recommend a community corrections order for someone of Dennis' age with a lack of priors, as giving him a jail term of time served would be "sentencing you up the scale".
The matter was adjourned to March 19, so Dennis' visa situation could be ascertained.
Accused NSW trafficker in court
A man accused of trafficking drugs at Lexton's Rainbow Serpent music festival has again fronted the Ballarat Magistrates Court.
New South Wales man Carrick Dalton, 25, appeared in front of Magistrate Mykytowycz on Monday morning, charged with six drug-related offences.
Dalton was granted further bail due to his lack of significant prior criminal history, and what Magistrate Mykytowycz called the "success" of the Court Integrated Services Program, which includes drug counselling.
Police previously told the court Dalton was located unconscious due to an overdose of the drug ketamine.
The court heard medical staff took Dalton to a medical facility on January 28, where police allege they located a number of small deal bags inside a 'bum bag' draped over his shoulder.
Police officers attended and a search revealed the accused was allegedly carrying two small deal bags containing ketamine, 10 green pills suspected to be ecstasy, two bottles of liquid believed to contain GHB and $1415 cash.
He will return to the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on May 23.