A DRUG syndicate member who trafficked large amounts of methamphetamine into Mildura and made a “significant” profit will spend up to eight years and nine months behind bars.
Before the County Court in Melbourne, Matthew James Rowe pleaded guilty to trafficking 1.3kg of the drug ice between July and December 2019.
Rowe, now 34, was arrested in December 2019 as part of the Mallee divisional response unit’s Operation Xena.
Through phone intercepts, police determined Rowe was buying commercial quantities of ice about once a week from a Sunbury man before selling half for profit, at $4000 an ounce, to two Merbein men who sold the drugs across Sunraysia.
Rowe sold the other half of the drugs to associates in Mildura, Kerang and Swan Hill.
Rowe accepted cash, cash deposits and big items such as boats and cars in exchange for methamphetamine or to pay off drug debts.
His bank accounts revealed between February 18 and October 12, 2019, he received $70,000 and had transferred more than $29,000 to the Sunbury man’s account.
In October 2019 a man was pulled over in Gladstone, Queensland, by police and found to have 61.5g of ice that had been sold to him by Rowe and the Sunbury man on credit.
Due to the seizure, the man was left $16,000 in debt. Rowe later seized a boat as payment.
A prosecutor cited seven incidents to the court to prove Rowe’s trafficking behaviour, the quantities and pricing.
Rowe was arrested and charged on December 12, 2019.
The court was told Rowe had previous convictions for trafficking ecstasy and methamphetamine and had served jail time for beating up a man he had met in prison over a drug debt.
Rowe’s solicitor said there had been seven years when his client had not come before a court, which he put down to him being in a stable relationship at that time.
The court was told Rowe’s life had been “turned upside down” when he was the driver in a single-vehicle collision in Swan Hill in 2009 that killed his passenger.
At the time Rowe was working at the Swan Hill abattoir but to get away from the aftermath of the crash moved to Western Australia before returning for his court case.
He was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death by a jury in 2012 and was given a reduced jail sentence of two and a half years with a non-parole period of 20 months on appeal.
His counsel said Rowe’s parents had footed the $207,000 bill for the prolonged court case and as a result had to sell the family farm, events that eventually led to their divorce.
The County Court was told after the crash Rowe developed symptoms of PTSD and a major depressive disorder and used illicit drugs, mainly ice, to manage his psychological stress, which added to his problems.
His solicitor said Rowe was “genuinely ashamed” of the offending and was committed to rehabilitation.
Rowe will be eligible for parole after serving five years, six months.
The maximum punishment for the offence is life imprisonment.
Rowe has served 18 months of the sentence on remand.
