Drug trafficker rumbled after child loses lucrative stash at Hyatt Hotel

The man, later given the pseudonym Jaxon Mort by the ACT Supreme Court, was sentenced in early August to 19 months in jail.

Justice John Burns ordered the 35-year-old to serve a non-parole period of 11 months.

Justice Burns' judgment shows Mort and his partner checked into the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on January 31 last year, paying $1149 in cash to stay the night.

The pair were accompanied by two young children when they left the hotel early the next morning, and Mort was seen handing one of them, a boy aged about five, a black laptop bag.

A member of the public found the same bag and gave it to hotel staff a short time later, prompting them to check its contents in a bid to identify the owner.

"[The staff] observed a sum of cash, a quantity of what appeared to be drugs, and a wallet," Justice Burns said in his sentencing remarks.

"Staff checked the wallet and found an ACT proof of age card in [Mort's] name."

Mort later returned to the hotel and asked if the bag had been handed in, telling staff it contained $20,000 in cash.

But the matter had already been reported to police, who seized the item and its contents.

Inside the bag was $9515 in cash, more than 185 grams of methamphetamine, 380 pills of the psychedelic drug MDA, and paraphernalia like a digital calculator scale.

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Police also raided Mort's home and found more methamphetamine in the main bedroom, while also locating a drill that was believed to have been stolen from Bunnings.

Mort ultimately pleaded guilty in May to two counts of drug trafficking, and single charges of possessing stolen property and possessing a drug of dependence.

In sentencing earlier this month, Justice Burns said a police officer had provided a statement indicating the methamphetamine in question would be worth anywhere between $32,927 and $192,075 on the street, depending on how it was sold.

The officer estimated the street value of the MDA as being between $7600 and $15,200.

Justice Burns said he had been left in no doubt that Mort was "actively involved" in trafficking both drugs to end users.

"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you were slightly above a street-level dealer in that you were not trafficking in drugs simply to support your own habit, but you also intended to make some profit," he told the offender.

Mort was assessed as being a medium to high risk of reoffending, with Justice Burns noting the 35-year-old had previously failed to follow through on assertions he was "committed to rehabilitation".

"I can have little confidence in your present stated desire to engage in drug rehabilitation," the judge told Mort.

"You were undoubtedly aware at the time of the present offences of the resources available to assist in drug rehabilitation, but you chose to engage in serious criminal offending rather than engage with those resources."

Justice Burns ultimately imposed the jail sentence, saying it was his job to "demonstrate to others tempted to engage in trafficking drugs that very real penalties will follow when they are caught".

With time already served, Mort will become eligible for parole in February next year.

The judgment does not explicitly reveal why he was given a pseudonym, though it does show he provided "significant assistance to the authorities" and received a hefty discount on his sentence as a result.

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