STATE OF TASMANIA v GEORGINA ROSE BOURKE 5 OCTOBER 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Georgina Bourke, you plead guilty to attempting to manufacture a controlled drug for sale, manufacturing a controlled precursor intended for use in manufacture of a controlled drug for sale and possessing a thing intended for use in manufacture of a controlled substance for sale.
In July 2020 you lived in unit you leased from Homes Tasmania at Newnham with your then partner who I will call H. Late in the morning of 30 July 2020 the police executed a search warrant. You are to be sentenced on the basis that H was using the unit as a clandestine laboratory for the attempted manufacture of methylamphetamine which he, if he succeeded, intended to sell. When the police arrived H was actually standing over the stove engaged in the process. In the course of the search the police found all of the drugs, chemicals and equipment necessary for the successful manufacture of methylamphetamine. There were various substances, both in liquid and solid form, containing pseudoephedrine and well over 250 tablets containing pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a controlled precursor to methylamphetamine. H had extracted or refined the pseudoephedrine or was in the process of extracting or refining it and was thereby manufacturing it. Once pseudoephedrine is extracted hypophosphorous acid and iodine are used to convert it to methylamphetamine. The hypophosphorous acid is the subject or count 3 on the indictment being a thing possessed with the intention of manufacturing and selling methylamphetamine. Other substances which may be used in the process included hydrochloric acid, dimethyl sulfone, caustic soda, acetone and iodine. All of those various substances were in the unit as well as filters, glass flasks, beakers and bowls, connectors, a condenser, a distillation head and electronic scales.
No methylamphetamine was located, and so you are not charged with possessing or actually manufacturing that drug or trafficking in it. It is not alleged that you participated in the process of manufacture but by making the unit you leased available for use for these activities you are taken to engage in the activities yourself and are thereby guilty of the same crimes. Decontamination of the unit was a very costly exercise for Homes Tasmania.
Your personal circumstances were outlined to me by your counsel and in a report from Community Corrections which I requested to enable assessment of your suitability for home detention. You are now 46. You have two children. One is now a young adult with a child of her own. The other is now aged five and is from a relationship from before you became involved with H. At the time of these crimes your son was not in your care and was not living with you. You had been in a relationship with H since January 2020 and he moved in in April, about three months before the police search. Your relationship with him has since ended although the report suggests that he may continue to have some influence over you.
You have experienced a lot of difficulties in your life. You were subject to childhood trauma which I need not detail as a result of which you have complex PTSD. You have suffered serious violence at the hands of persons with whom you have been in a relationship. You have some other health difficulties. You have a long term addiction to illicit drugs, first to opiates which you used to self-medicate for the psychological effects of the trauma you experienced. You were on the methadone program for 15 years. Notwithstanding all of these difficulties you have demonstrated the capacity to hold responsible employment. You worked for 13 years with Westpac in home finance, and then in the administration of your father’s business.
Shortly after ceasing the methadone program in 2016 you began to use methylamphetamine. Your use of the drug led you to meet the man who was the father of your child, but the result of your drug use was that your son was removed from your care. You told the author of the assessment report that the drug was difficult to obtain during the pandemic, and you saw permitting H to use your home to manufacture it was so that you could supply your own habit. At the time you were a daily user. It is not alleged that you were to benefit directly from the sale of methylamphetamine had the process continued to fruition, but H was your partner and lived in your home and you admit that part of your motivation was the supply of methylamphetamine for your personal use.
Your plea of guilty is in your favour. Your only relevant prior conviction is a drug related driving matter in 2017. You claim not to have used illicit drugs for two years. You have been engaging positively with both the child protection authorities and your Anglicare support worker. For some time you have been working so that you may resume care of your son. That process began with increasing levels of unsupervised contact and, on 11 September 2023, he was returned to your full time care subject to a six month review period. You told the author of the assessment report that he is an active little boy and you are concerned that, if sentenced to a home detention order, you will not be able to engage in his normal recreational activities: taking him to parks, swimming, play centres and other physical activities. He attends kindergarten three days a week. You are presently living in a self-contained flat within a larger family property occupied by your father, step mother and half-sister.
The other matter in your favour is that you have now agreed to give evidence in the trial of H should that become necessary. Your evidence would be in accordance with the facts that I have been given. Your evidence if accepted is evidence of his guilt and it is the policy of the criminal law to allow discounts in sentence in return for such co-operation.
I have concluded that a sentence other than actual imprisonment is appropriate, but that, even given all of the matters which are in your favour, a wholly suspended sentence does not carry a sufficient punishment or deterrence. Home detention is the appropriate sentence. You have been assessed as suitable. It will not affect the reunification process with your son. I accept that aspects of the order may be challenging in relation to his care but you are to be sentenced for a serious matter and the only appropriate alternative is actual imprisonment. You were party to the attempted manufacture for sale of a drug which, as has been pointed out many times, causes a great deal of harm to individuals and to the community. I have reduced by one month the term of the home detention order to reflect the promise that you have made today to give evidence.
Georgina Bourke, you are convicted on each count on the indictment. I order that the following items be forfeited to the State:
- all of the items listed on property seizure records 197833 to 197837 inclusive and 185146 except for item 57 on that record;
- all items listed on drug exhibit sheet 265583;
- all items listed on miscellaneous property sheet 293830 except for items 56, 57, 85, 86, 87 and 88; and
- all items listed on miscellaneous property sheet 293821.
I order that the reasonable expense of and attending the analysis and examination of the controlled substances be assessed and that you pay that sum as part of the costs of the prosecutor within 28 days of the assessment. I make a compensation order in favour of Homes Tasmania and adjourn the assessment of the amount of that order to a date to be fixed.
I make a home detention order. The operative period of the order is 9 months from today. I order that you report to the office of Community Corrections at 111 Cameron Street Launceston at 11.00 am on 5 October 2023 for induction into this order and a further explanation as to its full terms. There will be conditions that during the operational period of the order:
(a) you must not commit an offence that is punishable by imprisonment;
(b) you must reside at the home detention premises at [address];
(c) you must be at the home detention premises at all times unless:
- you are travelling to or from, or are at, premises at which you are seeking urgent medical treatment or dental treatment; or
- because it is necessary to not be on the premises in order to avoid, or minimise a serious risk of, the death of, or injury to, you or another person; or
- with the approval, of a probation officer or prescribed officer, given –
(i) so as to enable you to comply with a special condition; or
(ii) so as to enable you to seek or engage in employment; or
(iii) so as to enable you to attend an educational or training course or activity; or
(iv) so as to enable you to attend a rehabilitative or re-integrative activity or program; or
(v) so as to enable you to attend a court; or
(vi) for any other purpose, including care of your child, approved by the probation officer or prescribed officer.
(d) you must permit a police officer, probation officer or prescribed officer to enter the home detention premises;
(e) you must permit a police officer to –
(i) conduct a search of the home detention premises; and
(ii) conduct a frisk search, within the meaning of the Search Warrants Act 1997 , of you, at the home detention premises or at any other place or premises; and
(iii) take a sample of a substance found on the home detention premises or on the person of you;
(f) you must comply with any reasonable and lawful directions of a probation officer or prescribed officer, including any directions as to the kind of employment, or the place of employment, of you;
(g) you must submit to electronic monitoring, including by wearing or carrying an electronic device and:
(i) you must not, nor permit another person to, tamper with, damage or disable any device used for the purpose of the electronic monitoring; and
(ii) you must comply with all reasonable and lawful directions given to you in relation to the electronic monitoring including in relation to the installation, attachment or operation of a device or system used for the purpose of electronic monitoring by a police officer, a probation officer or prescribed officer or another person whose functions involve the installation or operation of a device or system used for the purposes of electronic monitoring;
(h) you must, if directed to do so by a police officer, probation officer or prescribed officer, submit to a breath test, urine test, or other test, for the presence of an illicit drug;
(i) you must, if directed by a probation officer or prescribed officer to engage in a personal development activity, counselling, or treatment, engage in the activity, counselling or treatment in accordance with any directions given by the probation officer or prescribed officer;
(j) you must submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by that officer;
(k) you must not take any illicit or prohibited substances. Illicit and prohibited substances include any controlled drug as defined by the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001, and any medication containing an opiate, benzodiazepine, bupropion, hydrochloride or pseudoephedrine, unless you provide written evidence from your medical professional that you have been prescribed the relevant medication;
(l) you must maintain in operating condition an active mobile phone service, provide the contact details to Community Corrections and be accessible for contact through this device at all times; and
(m) you must not permit H to enter or be found at the home detention premises.
This order comes into effect immediately. You must understand that if you do not comply with the conditions, imprisonment is likely. If you breach the order by committing another offence, the order must be cancelled unless there are exceptional circumstances, and in that case imprisonment would be highly likely.