JUST two weeks after he was caught with $67,000 of methamphetamine and cannabis in Swan Hill, a 30-year-old South Australian man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Hieu Dao pleaded guilty to eight charges, including trafficking cannabis and methamphetamine, in the Swan Hill Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
Throughout the proceedings, Dao sat with his head bowed.
His mother and sister travelled from South Australia for the guilty plea, and all three were reduced to tears as the hearing progressed.
Just two weeks earlier, Swan Hill police arrested Dao when he was found sleeping in a hire car on Runciman Road, about seven kilometres north of Swan Hill, on May 25.
With him police located $1435 in cash, 2kg of cannabis and 27g of methamphetamine, worth $40,000 and $27,000 respectively, which Dao told police was bound for Kerang.
But it wasn’t the first time Dao had been charged by Swan Hill police that week.
Three days earlier on May 22, police charged Dao with drug offences when he was caught with 10g of ice and six joints of cannabis.
Police prosecutor Dave Hogan told the court Dao had been approached by police as he was carrying fuel back to his car, that had stalled at the corner of Campbell Street and Rutherford Street.
Defence lawyer Tony Phillips told the court Dao had experienced a difficult upbringing in Vietnam before him and his mother came to Australia.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (June 12).
