STATE OF TASMANIA v OLIVER LACHLAN FITZGERALD 6 OCTOBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
Oliver Lachlan Fitzgerald, you have pleaded guilty to dealing with the proceeds of crime. I am also dealing with related summary charges of trafficking in a controlled substance (minor offence) and sell tobacco when not the holder of a tobacco seller’s licence.
At the time of the offending, you were 20 years of age. You were living with another at an address in Kingston. On 10 October 2025, police searched that address. They found 161 boxes of nicotine vapes in your bedroom. They also found 5 grams of cocaine, packaged in two separate packages in a drawer under your bed. In a drawer in the kitchen, they found another 2.72 grams of cocaine, again packaged in two separate bags. Also, in a drawer in the kitchen, they found 10.04 grams of MDMA and a small quantity of cannabis. A total of $59,615 in cash was found loose in a drawer under your bed. The State accept that $30,000 of this amount was attributable to a car sale. The balance $29,615 was proceeds of crime.
Police seized your mobile phone, but you refused to provide the passcode to allow access. It has not been forensically examined. You participated in a record of interview. You admitted ownership of the drugs seized and admitted use of the substances but did not admit any trafficking conduct.
As noted, you were 20 at the time the crime occurred. You are now 21. By way of prior convictions, you have some driving offences, including breaches of the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act, but no prior convictions under the Misuse of Drugs Act. You were dealt with by way of an informal caution when you were 16, for possession of some cannabis.
I am told that you left school at the end of grade 11 and, since then, have held a number of labouring positions. You now work as a removalist. You have experienced considerable instability during your upbringing. Your parents separated when you were relatively young and thereafter your mother struggled to find stable accommodation. At 17, you moved in with a friend but the circumstances of those living arrangements were also quite unstable and you were without appropriate support. You began using drugs initially on a social basis and began providing some of those drugs to your friends and associates. It is on that basis that you have pleaded guilty to the trafficking charge.
The illicit drugs that you sold were in smaller quantities consistent with providing end users drugs for personal use. Of course, any dissemination of illegal drugs into our community is serious, and you sold drugs with sufficient regularity that you generated a profit of over $29,000. That is not an insignificant amount. You also had possession of a significant quantity of vapes and you have pleaded guilty to selling those vapes when you were not the holder of a tobacco seller’s licence.
I am told that being charged with these crimes has had a significant impact upon you and caused you to reevaluate what you were doing with your life. Around the same time, you lost a close friend, who was killed in an incident in Salamanca. The combination of these events was pivotal and made you take stock of where your life was heading. You have now obtained both your Certificate III and Certificate IV in personal training and have commenced a personal training business. To your credit, you undertook this training whilst still working full time as a removalist. Whilst your personal training business is in its infancy, it is looking positive and you are working hard to establish a solid client base. You have ceased the use of illicit substances all together. I am told you are focusing on your health and wellbeing and are determined to make a success of your business.
I take into account that this was an early plea of guilty. In all the circumstances, despite the severity of the offences, and it should be clearly understood by you Mr Fitzgerald, that these were serious offences, I am persuaded, given your young age and strong prospects, that I should prioritise your rehabilitation.
I make the following orders. Oliver Lachlan Fitzgerald, you are convicted on the indictment and counts 1 and 2 on complaint 14046/25. I make an order pursuant to s 11(1)(a) of Crime (Confiscation of Profits) Act 1993, that $29,615 seized by Tasmania Police on 10 October 2025 be forfeited to the State. I further order that the digital scales seized by police on the same date be forfeited to the State of Tasmania. I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to imprisonment for six months, but I wholly suspend that period of imprisonment for a period of two years on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment. You should clearly understand that if you breach that condition, you will be required to serve the suspended sentence, unless a court is persuaded that it is unjust to impose that sentence.