Update: Nikita Campbell has lodged an appeal against the seven-month jail sentence handed to her in Wollongong Local Court earlier Friday on charges of drug supply and participating in a criminal group.
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Campbell hugged a relative before being taken into custody by Corrective Services staff and transferred to holding cells below Wollongong courthouse after the sentence was pronounced.
Her lawyers immediately lodged a severity appeal against the sentence and sought her release on bail in the interim.
She fronted court again a short time ago where she was granted strict conditional bail.
An appeal date in Wollongong District Court is yet to be set.
Earlier: A young woman who confessed to playing a major "day to day" role in a sophisticated party drug ring allegedly run by her boyfriend and his twin brother has been sentenced to seven months' jail after a magistrate rejected calls for her to be spared time behind bars.
Lawyers for Nikita Campbell argued for an intensive corrections order in lieu of full-time jail during her sentencing hearing in Wollongong Local Court on Friday, noting the 21-year-old had been acting "under the influence" of her boyfriend, Joel Westman, and his brother, Flinn Westman, both of whom are the alleged kingpins of the drug syndicate.
However, Magistrate Susan McGowan refused the request, saying a stint behind bars was the only appropriate sentence given the serious nature of the offences and Campbell's admitted level of involvement in the criminal group that ran the drug ring.
It's quite clear when one looks at the facts Campbell knew what she was doing on a day-to-day basis. One cannot involve oneself in matters such as this and expect it just fades away.
"Quite frankly I think the community is sick of people in the Illawarra dealing hard drugs," she said.
"Anything other than full-time sentence is totally the wrong message going out to the community.
"She was young and influenced but [her involvement in the criminal group] was calculated and premeditated.
"It's quite clear when one looks at the facts Campbell knew what she was doing on a day-to-day basis.
"One cannot involve oneself in matters such as this and expect it just fades away."
A set of agreed facts tendered to the court reveal police spent months secretly watching and listening as Campbell helped the Westman twins deal drugs from the Coniston home she shared with the pair.
Police said Campbell was unemployed but lived a life well beyond her meagre financial income, attributing her apparent wealth to the successful but illegal business she helped run.
Police will allege the Westman brothers were the kingpins behind the "sophisticated, well-planned and meticulously organised" criminal syndicate, which was allegedly responsible for the supply of cocaine and ecstasy throughout the Illawarra in mid-2019.
Campbell, the boyfriend of Joel, was one of the group's "key personnel" who would often weigh and bag the drugs inside the home, as well as count the profits.
She also participated in some of the drugs supplies, police said.
Court documents said on July 5, police recorded Campbell sitting at the dining table inside the Westmans' Wonson Avenue home weighing out drugs to give to one of the group's alleged drug runners, Shaun Lane.
The following day, Campbell was recorded sitting at the kitchen table with Joel counting out between $80,000 and $100,000 in cash.
Campbell was also recorded cutting bagging drugs for another alleged dealer, David Ognenovski, later that night.
Police recorded Campbell's involvement in another deal on July 17 in which 14 grams of MDMA is sold to Lane.
Campbell was arrested just before dawn on August 16 after police carried out a series of sweeping raids on properties across the Illawarra.
She agreed to be interviewed by detectives but refused to answer their questions.
Campbell was granted strict conditional bail in court the following day but banned from contacting her boyfriend but that condition has since been relaxed to allow the pair phone contact.
She pleaded guilty to three counts of drug supply and one count of participating in a criminal group during a court appearance in May.
On Friday, the court heard Campbell had had an "unfortunate" upbringing and been an active drug user herself at the time she committed the offences but had not used drugs since her arrest.
Campbell will be released on an eight-month parole period in February 2021.
