A single mother who resorted to cryptocurrencies and the dark web to import a commercial quantity of a drug's precursor chemical because of the "maligned influence of her former partner" has taken steps to remain drug free and crime free for her children, a court has heard.
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Vanessa Lee White, 49, fronted the ACT Supreme Court on Monday for sentencing after pleading guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and failing to give authorities passwords to her electronic devices.
The court heard that after Australian Border Force officers intercepted a package addressed to White and her Hughes address in June 2021, a forensic examination found the package had just over 1kg of the chemical gamma-butyrolactone.
The chemical is a common precursor to the drug gamma hydroxybutyrate, sometimes referred to as a date rape drug, and the amount sent to White had a street value of about $11,000.
After the discovery, police replaced the chemical with an inert substance and installed a surveillance device in the package.
Police then purported to be from Australia Post and delivered the package to White who, shortly after taking delivery, said "whoo, f--k yeah".
On the same day in July 2021, police executed a search warrant at her premises and issued an order for her to provide them with passwords to her electronic devices, but she did not comply.
Police ultimately did examine her devices, which contained software related to digital currencies.
Her laptop ran the Linux-based operating system Tails, described as a system "that protects against surveillance and censorship", and the open-source browser Tor to boost her anonymity online.
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In addition to the devices, police found the substituted consignment in the back of a kitchen cupboard and a blue diary, which had handwritten entries, including one about the chemical being ordered on April Fool's Day in 2021.
Before her arrest, White in early 2021 registered an account, under her own name, with cryptocurrency-trading website CoinSpot.
She then converted about $2600 worth of Bitcoin to Monero as the latter is considered to be better at obfuscating transactions to achieve anonymity.
The day after she ordered the chemical, White sent $1142 worth of Monero to a UK-based dark web seller.
The court heard that telephone interceptions before her arrest indicated she had been experiencing financial difficulties.
She told a pre-sentence report author that she was motivated by the drug addiction and financial gain of her abusive ex-partner.
White had spent about 9.5 months in custody before being released on bail in April. Since then, she had completed numerous urine tests with all returning negative results.
She has also engaged with programs to provide a safe environment for her children.
While in custody at the Canberra jail, she was employed as a peer mentor for women, with an ACT Corrective Services letter saying she acted with professionalism.
Other achievements in custody include obtaining five certificates, with several related to rehabilitation programs.
Justice David Mossop said that while the street value of the chemical was "not very great" when compared with commercial quantities of other drugs, the profit level compared with the investment level was significant.
He said that White was not part of a wider trafficking operation and concluded that the overall objective seriousness is at the low end "for this very serious offence", which has a maximum term of life imprisonment.
The judge acknowledged White's limited criminal history and her steps taken so far, including counselling, to address her risk of reoffending.
He said White remained under Child and Youth Protection Services' supervision and "appears motivated to be drug free for the benefit of her children".
"She is now free of the maligned influence of her former partner," Justice Mossop said.
He said the steps as mentioned above were "consistent with the significant motivation on her part to remain drug free and, as a consequence, crime free".
He sentenced White to 33 months' jail to be suspended from Monday after she had already served time in pre-sentence custody.
The suspension was upon her entering a recognizance release order.
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