ORANGE drug dealers who were arrested as part of an investigation into a robbery at Wentworth Golf Club escaped jail time despite initially being charged with up to 50 offences combined.
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Thomas Alex Williamson, 22, was initially charged with 43 counts of drug supply and possession but the Director of Public Prosecutions reduced the offences down to two charges of supplying prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis, and two for possession of drugs and possession of drug-administering equipment.
His co-accused, a 19-year-old woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, was initially charged with six drug offences, but had her charges reduced and was given a 12-month suspended jail sentence in the Bathurst District Court last month.
Williamson was not as lucky and was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court last week to an 18-month intensive corrections order, which is similar to a suspended sentence, but he is under strict supervision from corrective services.
Williamson and his contacts and clients used terms like “kids lollies”, “the cold stuff”, “pussy cats” and “footys” when they referred to a range of drugs such as MDMA, synthetic drugs known as MCat or meow meow, and methylamphetamine, or ice.
Williamson’s mobile phone was tapped as part of the police investigation into an armed robbery at the Wentworth Golf Club in April last year.
Police statements tendered as part of the evidence said the two would text each other with locations to swap drugs for cash at places such as the Cheesecake Shop, Waratah Sports Club, Harvey Norman car park and the Hotel Orange.
A detective investigating the case said with his years of experience he had learned the lingo used by drug dealers and had understood what was meant when someone asked for some “pussy cats” for “45 each” which were “100 per cent good.”
“It’s a large scale distribution of prohibited drugs in Orange,” the detective said in a statement.