When police found two black material bags during a body search of Jason Harley Henderson, he straight up told them "I've breached my bail".
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The 32-year-old man appeared via AVL from prison in Inverell Local Court on Thursday for sentencing, after pleading guilty to three counts of drug possession.
The charges stem from his arrest in February 24, where the Inverell man was found to have three grams of cocaine, one tab of LSD and seven packets of 8mg Buprenorphine - used to treat opioid use disorder, acute pain and chronic pain - in one of the bags.
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When officers got to the other bag and found two small stones, he told them "oh, that's just rocks".
Represented by solicitor Stephen Collins, it was explained Henderson was in custody for other matters currently before Newcastle court.
"Regardless of the outcome today, you will still be in custody for those," Magistrate Holly Kemp told him.
Mr Collins explained how an untreated childhood trauma - from an accident where he witnessed family members killed and injured - had been one of the triggers for Henderson's "continued" drug abuse.
He said the sentencing assessment report - ordered by the court on March 3 when he was denied bail - was pleasing because Henderson had admitted his drug-taking was to "alleviate the background pain" of that event, and expressed his willingness to seek medical help to resolve those issues.
"He has also had 50 days in custody and has not had access to drugs, so hopefully that will be the start of reformation for him," Mr Collins said.
Henderson came to police attention when they were patrolling Brae Lane for another matter at about 12.30 to 1.30am on February 24.
Police decided to search him after he had jumped a fence and hidden before emerging a short time later.
The prosecution had nothing further to add on Thursday.
Magistrate Kemp said she could see an alternative to jail time for the charges, which she considered to be below mid-range in seriousness.
"[The report] outlines that he is a medium risk of reoffending due to his long history of drug use, and I form the view Henderson would benefit from supervision with specific attention to rehabilitation for drug use," she said.
Noting his father was present, his prospects of employment in the community and his early plea of guilty, she gave community correction orders for 12 months each for the first two charges, and a conviction without penalty for the prescription drugs.
Both orders had the conditions that he be of good behavior, and that he was supervised by Inverell Community Corrections upon his release.
A previous "lengthy" community corrections order was called up, however the magistrate took it as an aggravating feature in the light of his ongoing jail time.
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