A Wollongong magistrate has said the impact of the ice scourge on young people is as bad as COVID-19 in refusing a bail application for a man accused of supplying drugs with an estimated street value of up to $500,000 or more.
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Berkeley resident Cameron Jade Kelly, who is also known by the surname McTiernan, is faced with 30 charges related to the supply of prohibited drugs.
Defence lawyer Ertunc Ozen told Wollongong Local Court on Friday that his 39-year-old client should be released on bail because he was effectively the sole carer of his mother, who had serious and chronic health issues.
Mr Ozen said Kelly's mother needed oxygen tanks changed hourly and the batteries changed several times a day.
"Mr Kelly is the person who looks after her hourly; he's the only person who can do it on an ongoing basis," he said.
Mr Ozen also said that if the alleged police facts were borne out by evidence the prosecution case was "not weak", but it relied on inference in regards to codes Kelly allegedly used to describe amounts of drugs.
An actual instance of supply was not witnessed, he said, and the matter faced a delay in reaching a resolution.
"This is going to take many, many months at best before it reaches the District Court call-over," Mr Ozen said.
He said Kelly had also never been incarcerated before.
But police prosecutor Sergeant David Weaver submitted the prosecution's case was strong and there was physical evidence to support it.
Sergeant Weaver said there were mechanisms in place for Kelly's mother and questioned the assertion that nobody else in the family could care for her.
Magistrate Robert Walker said the prosecution case did appear to be strong and a custodial sentence was "extremely likely" for such offending.
"Dealing in drugs is a very serious issue we have in this state. There seems to be a lot of ice, methamphetamine, a very dangerous drug... I've seen it destroy lives," Magistrate Walker said.
He described the supply of ice as an offence that was "close to murder" in terms of gravity.
Magistrate Walker said an "epidemic of ice" was killing young people and it was as bad as COVID-19.
He refused Kelly's bail application, saying he was not satisfied he had shown cause.
Police documents alleged there was evidence that established Kelly was responsible for the supply of drugs to a wide customer base in the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra areas.
It was alleged that customers would come to Kelly, but on occasions he would deliver drugs.
The documents stated that police intercepted communications between Kelly and several others that allegedly related to the supply of drugs.
Kelly is accused of supplying a total of almost 135 grams of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $40,500 within one week last July.
Police also allege that he supplied a further 57.5 grams, worth an estimated $17,250 in September.
Kelly allegedly also supplied, or possessed for the purposes of supply, more than 1.2 kilograms of the drug GBL, which had an estimated street value of between $400,000 and $500,000.
It is alleged that Kelly gambled daily and put "substantial amounts" of cash through poker machines.
Police said he was unemployed but "continued to live a life above the financial means of a person receiving government benefits".
Kelly will return to court next month.
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