Rinaldo Mammone was living with his girlfriend in the Oceanview apartment complex on Harbour Street when police carrying a court authorised search warrant came knocking on the afternoon of September 3, 2014.

Court documents said two detectives caught Mammone and another man trying to leave the complex through a stairwell and ordered them back inside the unit, with Mammone told to sit on the couch as police began searching the property.

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However officers said they soon noticed Mammone fiddling with something behind his back, prompting them to move him.

A search of the couch revealed seven resealable plastic bags inside a tied black sock. Each bag bore the distinct Ned Kelly image and contained gel capsules carrying a total of 17.23 grams of ecstasy.

A further 12 bags containing 8.36 grams of cocaine were found in a sock under the lounge.

Officers also found scales, more plastic bags, printed copies of various sections of the NSW Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, a USB device and more than a dozen mobile phones in the house.

Mammone was charged with drug supply offences.

He maintained his innocence for two years in the wake of several delays in court, until agreeing to plead guilty to amended charges in August this year.

In sentencing Mammone to a 23-month intensive corrections order on Friday, Judge Andrew Haesler said he was satisfied Mammone had been an “upstanding member of the community” prior to his foray into the world of drugs, which occurred after the breakdown of his long-term marriage.

“This appears to be a short period of criminality in an otherwise blameless life,” he said.

“I’m prepared to take a risk on Mr Mammone [and] enable him to make some form of contribution to the community instead of sitting in a jail cell. An intensive corrections order will allow him to give something back to the community.”

As part of the sentence, Mammone will be required to undergo psychological treatment and perform 300 hours of community service.