YOUNG GIRL USED TO FERRY DRUGS FOR FAMILY

A 56-year-old woman who used her nine-year-old granddaughter as a
go-between in drug deals was yesterday sentenced in the County Court to
five-and-a-half years' jail.

Judge John Nixon said Sandra Carolyn Whittle, known as "nan" to her
customers, and her son Mikeal Glen Whittle, restarted a "booming"
heroin business from their former Werribee home within a few days of
being convicted for drug related offences at the same Thornbill Drive
premises.

Judge Nixon said two witnesses claimed customers, which numbered up to
100 a day, were often greeted at the door by Whittle's granddaughter.
She would take orders and money from the customers and return with the
drugs.

The judge sentenced Mrs Whittle to a minimum non-parole period of four
years and dismissed as "nonsense" her claim of ignorance as to her
granddaughter's role and her assertion that she hated drugs.

The judge said the pair had exhibited no remorse for their "despicable"
actions.

He said they had failed to heed the warning of the apparently lenient
sentences of the Dandenong Magistrates Court, when Mrs Whittle was
given a suspended sentence and Mr Whittle placed on an Intensive
Corrections Order, and they continued to deal the drug.

Judge Nixon said the pair were caught red handed when police swooped on
the premises in October last year and found 14 packages of heroin,
$14,000 in drug proceeds and jewellery and bottles of alcohol that had
been exchanged for the $25 one-gram hits of heroin.

Police also found a rubbish bin full of used needles and swabs in the
laundry, which had been set up for injecting drugs to lure addicts away
from purchasing cheaper heroin in Footscray.

The court was told the ploy was successful, with police surveillance
logging more than 1250 drug customers entering the premises in the 18
days before the raid.

One addict said in a statement tendered in court that if the Whittles
ran out of heroin, people were told to wait 30 minutes, after which
time there would be a queue of customers waiting to use the laundry.

Mrs Whittle was assisted in the enterprise by her drug addicted son,
who acted as a drug courier. The 31-year-old man was jailed for four-
and-a-half years with a three-year minimum non-parole period.

Mrs Whittle, of Truscott Avenue, Eaglehawk, and her son, Mr Whittle, of
Flax Street, Werribee, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking
heroin from July1 to October19 last year. Mr Whittle also pleaded
guilty to possessing cannabis.

Judge Nixon said Mrs Whittle was "the principle organiser and main
recipient of profits" and sold drugs to a "a steady stream of addicts"
from early in the morning to late at night.

Mr Whittle collected the drugs from suppliers, although he was not
trusted by his mother because she suspected he was stealing heroin for
personal use.

At an earlier hearing Gerard Mullaly, for Mr Whittle, said his client,
who was supporting a heavy drug habit, was "not entrepreneurial but
driven by addiction" and that he was "subservient and secondary" to his
mother.

Judge Nixon said the courts "must be seen to take a stand" against drug
dealers. Drug trafficking was an evil trade, a massive problem causing
death and degradation and an untold, incalculable misery, he said.