A woman who admitted to being involved in a Hunter drug supply operation that was selling methylamphetamine and lolly ropes containing the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis has been ordered to complete 150 hours of community service.
Samantha Tennant was sentenced in Kurri Kurri Local Court on Tuesday, having pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a prohibited drug.
When handing the 29-year-old a two-year Community Corrections Order - essentially a good behaviour bond involving supervision by the state's corrective services department - Magistrate Ian Rodgers said there was a need for "general deterrence" when it came to this type of crime.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered to the court, police raided the Kurri Kurri home Tennant shared with her partner and sister on June 6, 2023, while the two women were at the property.
There, police found 345.4 grams of methylamphetamine of 78 per cent purity inside a kitchen cupboard closed with a childproof lock.
In the same cupboard, they also discovered a long piece of gummy in a container labelled "medicated nerd ropes".
Police found several other similar lolly ropes in the fridge - weighing a total of 2.5kg.
They were later found to contain THC - the psychoactive agent in cannabis that intoxicates the user.
Investigators seized the sisters' phones and Samantha Tennant later told police while being interviewed she had been involved in the supply of prohibited drugs out of the Kurri Kurri home on a "small number of occasions".
Tennant's partner, Tyson Leota, will be sentenced in Newcastle District Court in November after he pleaded guilty in July to supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, and two other counts which will be taken into account in his punishment.
Her sister, Mikayla Tennant, will be arraigned in Newcastle District Court on Thursday after she pleaded guilty to two drug supply counts and one drug possession charge in the local court.
