ACT court sentences murderer Rebecca Massey for drug trafficking

Rebecca Anne Massey, also known as Edwards, faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, when she avoided going back to jail.

The 50-year-old previously pleaded guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston sentenced Massey to 21 months imprisonment, to be suspended upon entering into a condition to be of good behaviour.

The killer had previously been sentenced to 16 years behind bars for stabbing Elizabeth Booshand outside a Charnwood chicken shop in 2008.

There was a confrontation outside the shop and the pair continued the clash in an adjacent alley, where Ms Booshand was fatally stabbed.

Massey's lawyers had argued during her 2011 trial that their client acted in self-defence and never meant to kill.

Massey, who previously worked as a hairdresser, was released on parole in May 2020 after spending 10 years in jail for murder.

About 13 months later, in July 2021, police conducted a search warrant at her then Gowrie home where they discovered four vials of GHB containing more than 54 grams of the drug.

This was about 108 times the minimum traffickable quantity.

The vials were found in a black drawstring pouch located inside a bedside table draw.

According to agreed facts, Massey was slurring her words and unable to keep her eyes open.

"[She] fell asleep for a large period of time during the execution of the search warrant," the facts state.

"Due to the behaviour shown by [Massey], police believe [she] was under the influence of an intoxicating substance."

An iPhone in a pink silicone case, belonging to Massey, contained messages indicating the woman was trafficking drugs.

Massey was then sent back behind bars for another 13 months after failing two drug tests, which returned results for methamphetamine.

On Thursday, Mr Theakston said that since her latest release on parole "there has been a marked change in [Massey's] approach to everything".

"There's been a change and she's been compliant in relation to parole orders," he stated.

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The magistrate said Massey had completed multiple drug rehabilitation programs, obtained her own accommodation, and drug tests had come back negative.

"[Massey] has a long history of offending behaviour that seems to be linked to drug use," Mr Theakston stated.

"There has been such significant progress [that more time behind bars] might cause her to compromise the gains that she has made."

Massey's total sentence for the murder does not expire until 2026.

The woman's legal team unsuccessfully appealed against the murder conviction in 2018, arguing the judge had misdirected the jury about the law of self-defence.

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