A 30-year-old woman who allegedly sold sugar to someone and claimed it was ice appeared in Wollongong Bail Court on Saturday morning.
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Krystal Patricia Ponsonby of Wollongong was facing six charges of supplying ice stemming from surveillance carried out by police operation Strike Force Worra in October last year.
According to the police facts, Ponsonby – or her partner – were allegedly recorded on video selling the drug at Dicey Riley’s hotel or outside Woolworth’s in Burelli Street five times in the space of 10 days.
Each time the drugs were seized by police and analysed. The fact sheet tendered to the court said the drugs were tested and four of the samples were ice.
The fifth sample – for which the buyer allegedly paid $200 – turned out to be sugar.
“The total amount of financial gain received by the accused for these drug purchases, including the supply of sugar, totalled $600,” the police facts stated.
Ponsonby was arrested on warrants outside the Harp Hotel at 12.40am on Saturday and declined to be interviewed.
In court on Saturday, her Legal Aid soliticitor Megan Pikett said Ponsonby suffered from a coronary heart condition and needed to be out on bail to ensure she could manage her treatment.
Ms Pikett also said Ponsonby wanted to get “on top of her drug habit” and could better do that out of custody.
In opposing bail, Sergeant Anna Comer said there was a “strong prosecution case”.
Regarding Ponsonby’s health issues, Sgt Comer said they hadn’t stopped her being at a licenced premises after midnight on the night of her arrest.
The registrar refused Ponsonby’s request for bail and she will appear in Wollongong Local Court on March 27.
