A Springvale South man’s role in a home-garage break-in has led police to a stash of nearly 8 kilograms of heroin in his bedroom, a court has heard.
Justin McFarland, 31, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to trafficking a large commercial quantity of heroin as well as to an aggravated home burglary and theft.
In September 2022, McFarland and an armed co-offender broke into a home garage in Corrigan Road, Noble Park.
They were captured on CCTV with the co-offender apparently stealing garden gloves.
It led to police raiding McFarland’s home, where a bag of 11 packages of a heroin mixture was found in his bedroom wardrobe and linked to his DNA.
The 7.9 kilograms of mixture contained between 1012 and 1085 grams of pure heroin – more than twice the threshold for a large commercial traffickable quantity.
Judge Duncan Allen noted that McFarland was facing a serious drug offence, with a standard sentence of 16 years’ jail.
But despite the drug quantity, his case was “just below” mid-range in seriousness for the offence.
In mitigation, Judge Allen noted McFarland’s role – described by his defence lawyer as a ‘patsy’ – could not be proven to more than “holding” the drugs for a short time.
There was no evidence of financial gain, nor of any previous drug convictions.
Rather, a lonely, isolated McFarland was motivated to please his friendship group, the judge stated.
He was afflicted with substance addiction, borderline personality disorder and pervasive depression.
Speaking on friendships, McFarland told a psychologist that he felt like a “loser” begging people to be around him.
McFarland had said he’d met his co-offender on the day of the agg burg, did drugs with him and had little recollection of the break-in.
As for the trafficking, McFarland described himself as an “idiot”.
He didn’t use heroin but kept the drugs for others because he was “trying to fit in” and he didn’t have anything else “good” going on in his life.
Breaching several CCOs previously, he’d long resisted help for his depression, borderline personality disorder and relapsed into drug abuse and crime.
Judge Allen said McFarland had good rehabilitation prospects if he could take advantage of “tremendous” family and family-friend supports and engage with treatment.
Hence, he gave McFarland the opportunity for a lengthy parole period.
McFarland was jailed for 10-and-a-half years, with a six-year non-parole period.
His term includes 1007 days of pre-sentence detention.
