A drug trafficker's decision to join a syndicate and try to sneak more than $1.6 million of drugs into the ACT, has ended in "years of life effectively wasted by an individual with much more potential".
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"It's my sincere hope that a man who understands the mindset that goes with running a marathon, can approach the time in custody with a mind that goes to push through when you really feel the pain of it," a judge told Andrew James O'Keefe on Friday.
O'Keefe, 34, was before the ACT Supreme Court, having previously pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug.
Justice Louise Taylor sentenced the drug trafficker to six years behind bars with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months.
He had prepared and packaged 3.284 kilograms of cocaine, as well as acting as a courier for 4.1 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Handing down her sentence, Justice Taylor stated it was important to deter people from aligning themselves with the drug-trade, which causes "misery", and "fractures families".
She said the cocaine had an estimated street value of $672,000 and the methamphetamine was worth $963,500.
The judge stated O'Keefe became involved in the drug trafficking enterprise because he was "in the throes of a cocaine addiction" and had accrued a $30,000 drug debt.
The 34-year-old was "driven by the need to fuel an out-of-control addiction" and fear he could not pay his debts, with his business "in financial free-fall".
He played the role of "a trusted associate who received payment for tasks rather than someone high up in the enterprise".
O'Keefe had offered to conduct "courier-like drug runs" for $5000 and had "full knowledge of the nature and scope of the operation".
However, Justice Taylor found O'Keefe was "entirely dispensable and he was not critical to the overall success of the entire operation".
On June 6, 2023, police pulled over a white van while patrolling the Barton Highway, near Hall.
The judge said the driver, identified as O'Keefe, appeared nervous with "glassy eyes" and "sweaty palms he was continually rubbing together".
Officers suspected the vehicle was being used to courier drugs into the ACT and established a crime scene.
Police discovered drugs, phones and other paraphernalia in the vehicle.
Officers later obtained CCTV footage showing O'Keefe and another man preparing cocaine at a mechanic business, as well as encrypted phone messages related to trafficking drugs.
On Friday, Justice Taylor found O'Keefe was genuinely remorseful for his involvement and was "clearly a man of some intelligence and industry".
She said he was now drug-free and had begun a university degree while on bail, having been given a dean's excellence award in 2023.
Despite this "remarkable progress", Justice Taylor said the man was required to spend years behind bars for his crimes.
His involvement in the drug trade ended in "years of life effectively wasted by an individual with much more potential", she said.
O'Keefe will be eligible for release in April 2027.
