30 March 2015

Melbourne luxury hotel drug trafficker Melinda Hansen avoids jail

Melinda Hansen outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
Melinda Hansen outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
 
A SNAP-happy former private schoolgirl who trafficked drugs from a luxury Melbourne hotel room and a Toorak rehabilitation centre while on bail for drug crimes has avoided jail. 

Melinda Hansen, 26, was arrested last June after police discovered ice-manufacturing equipment — including notebooks with methylamphetamine recipes penned in pink ink — in a dramatic raid on room 103 of The Olsen Hotel in South Yarra.

Earlier this week, Hansen pleaded guilty to trafficking drugs over a 15-month period and possessing equipment and documents used in the manufacture of methylamphetamine.

Today she was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order and must perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.

Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said it was of “significant concern” that Hansen was trafficking drugs from rehab and the hotel while on bail for drug possession offences, as well as when she promised the court she would be of good behaviour and after that time.

He said the fact people with access to cash thought they could get away with their criminal charges “by playing the game of rehab is disturbing”.

The magistrate said Hansen was not a truly pathetic drug-addict, but chose to sell drugs from a fashionable hotel.

Melinda Hansen at an earlier court appearance. Picture : Mike Keating.Melinda Hansen at an earlier court appearance. Picture : Mike Keating.
 
“It may accurately be said that we are talking lifestyle choices,” Mr Rozencwajg said.

Defence counsel Marita Altman earlier told the magistrate not to be “fooled” by Hansen’s neat, pink handwriting, which she credited to her education at Tintern Girls Grammar School, as “the rest of her life (was) in absolute chaos”.

At a hearing last year, police alleged two mobile phones in Hansen’s possession contained incriminating photos of her with drugs, scales and wads of cash.

Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard Hansen’s phone contained more than 300 text messages related to drug dealing.

Assorted chemicals and drug-making equipment, including flasks, protective masks and coveralls, were also seized in the June 20 search.

In the raid, police recovered seven deal bags containing 27.2 grams of a substance they believed to be the drug ice, but forensic tests later determined the pure weight to be just .2 of a gram.

Ms Altman told the court Hansen suffered from bipolar disorder and ADHD and came back from a two-year stint in London in 2012 “with a raging cocaine addiction”.

She said her client, who spent only 18 days in custody before being bailed, had been punished enough by the publicity surrounding her case.

Mr Rozencwajg said she would be further punished by conditions on her CCO, which restrict where she can live, impose a night-time curfew and force her to undergo treatment for drugs and mental health issues.

heraldsun.com.au  20 March 2015

Rozencwajg is another criminal judge that should be expelled from 'work'.

This is the result of a corrupt government and corrupt judicature in action.

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COURTS DETERMINE DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MANUFACTURE LESSER CRIME THAN ROAD INFRINGEMENTS OR INSIDER TRADING

That's right Infringers. Whilst trafficking drugs in some countries seemingly is going to result in multiple bullets fired through your heart despite any attempts you might make over a decade to rehabilitate yourself, in Victoria this week we're seen Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg let the devastating drug Ice manufacturer and trafficker Melinda Hansen off with not so much as a fine after she pleaded guilty in court WHILST ON BAIL for similar offences. In the same week insider trader Lukas Kamay was sentenced to seven years and three months jail with a non-parole period of four years and six months for stripping cash from the currency markets. His buddy who passed the information to him from the ABS only made a few thousand dollars for his leaks but was jailed for three years and three months with a non-parole period of two years.

But earlier this week, drug queen and ex Tintern Girls Grammar School student Hansen pleaded guilty to trafficking drugs over a lucrative 15-month period and possessing equipment and documents used in the manufacture of methyl amphetamine. Yesterday she was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order and must perform 200 hours of unpaid community work. Sweet. The magistrate said Hansen was not a truly pathetic drug-addict, but chose to sell drugs from a fashionable hotel. “It may accurately be said that we are talking lifestyle choices,” Mr Rozencwajg said. LOL. Sounds like a reasonably nice lifestyle....trading from the Olsen Hotel!

So for those battling with Civic Compliance payment plans, or having the Sheriff banging on the door over unpaid tolls and wanting to cart you off to jail unless you pay up on the spot, or those having their car registration cancelled for not paying fines resulting from having not voting in a council election, or maybe those small business owners that have been slapped with a $2952 fine for a speeding offence that was incurred in a company vehicle that the (maybe former) employee refuses to pay, or those that have lost their licence and consequently their job after accruing demerit points for petty camera infringements and now look like losing the house, maybe magistrate Rozencwajg is showing us the way forward.

Rent a luxury apartment in a swanky hotel, manufacture and traffic drugs from there and even if you get caught and bailed you can be confident that you can forge on for 15 months and if you get busted again you'll just do a few weeks community service. Don't leak or act on financial info though....or get pinged doing 43kph in a 40 zone....

Sounds like a plan Infringers!

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