A Portland woman with a drug and gambling addictions has been jailed for four months after trafficking methamphetamine.
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Ricky Patricia Dorward, 42, pleaded guilty in the Portland Magistrates Court on Tuesday, January 30, to charges including dealing meth.
She was jailed for four months with 109 days counted as already served, so will be eligible for release in about six weeks.
Police previously told court Dorward drove 500 kilometres from Portland to "pick up the goods" before being arrested in a raid that netted methamphetamine worth $15,000.
Dorward was arrested at a property in Portland's Mitchell Crescent during April last year.
She was already on a community correction order after previously being convicted of the same crime.
Detective Senior Constable Kyra McKinnis, of the Portland police crime investigation unit, said officers attended the Portland property in the middle of the night and entered through an unlocked door.
She said when police announced their presence, Dorward exited a room and was observed with something in her hand as she approached a linen cupboard.
A small scuffle occurred between the accused woman and police officers.
Detective Senior Constable McKinnis said 24 grams of the drug ice was located in the cupboard and another six or so grams in a small bag on a bedroom dresser.
She accused Dorward of placing the methamphetamine in the cupboard.
Senior Constable McKinnis said she managed to get the accused woman's phone which she searched before it locked with a pin.
She said messages showed Dorward had left Portland earlier that day with an associate and travelled to two Shepparton addresses.
She said the woman said in a message they "had the goods" and would be back in five hours.
Senior Constable McKinnis said a male co-accused was also arrested at the house and subsequently charged with trafficking methamphetamine.
Portland court heard other items were located and seized, including a clear plastic bottle with 30ml of illicit drug GHB, a tick list, about $1000 in cash, a smoking pipe, two mobile phones and other drug paraphernalia.
Dorward provided no comment in an interview with police, but she admitted prior offending.
A lawyer said her client previously worked as a cleaner at the Portland smelter and started using meth about five years ago when she got involved in a new relationship.
Doward then started trafficking meth with a co-accused to fund her drug use and gambling addictions.
She even breached bail conditions by attending gaming venues while on bail.
"Since 2021 she's struggled to get back on her feet due to her severe substance use disorder and underlying post traumatic stress disorder," the lawyer said, before submitting a combination sentence, involving jail and another CCO, was appropriate.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said he did not believe Dorward was suitable for another CCO after trafficking drugs while on an order for doing exactly the same thing.
He said committing the same offence while on a CCO was a serious aggravating feature of the case.
Dorward said she planned to live in Melbourne with a family member when released from prison and added that due to her family situation she understood it was imperative she turned around her life.
The magistrate said Dorward suffered significant difficulties growing up and during a number of relationships, but she had not come to the attention of court before her drug use.
He told Doward she would be soon released from custody and she needed to be emotionally prepared for that.
Mr Lethbridge said Dorward needed to plan not to go out on a bender with other drug users, instead to get support from family and agencies to assist in her recovery from drug addiction.
"Don't go out and use because it's inevitable you will be back in jail," he said.
