A Newstead man who tried to substitute animal urine for his own in a bid to avoid a positive drugs test and cancellation of a home detention order will spend seven more weeks in jail.
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Daniel Peter Jermy, 45, a pizza chef, was sentenced after a nine month home detention order received in Burnie Magistrates court last year was cancelled for continued drug use and other offences.
A Community Corrections officer told the court last week that Jermy had failed to comply with the strict drug testing requirements of the order.
The officer said Jermy was told to attend for drug testing on January 31, 2023 but did not attend.
He was also instructed to attend on February 1.
"On February 3, the department received a call from the Tasmanian Medical Laboratory saying that the sample was not human urine," the officer said.
"Mr Jermy maintained that it was his sample, but a TML representative indicated it was not of human origin."
On February 7 and March 3, he tested positive to methylamphetamine, and as a result, was considered no longer suitable for the order.
The court heard that Jermy's failure to quit drugs was so stark that he accumulated a drug debt while on the order.
Early this year he contacted the department asking for permission to attend Cash Converters and borrow $1000 as soon as possible.
"He then said the money was owed for a drug debt and that there was a threat to his personal safety that day," the officer told the court.
"A decision was made to allow him to attend Cash Converters to get a loan to pay the drug debt later that night.
"That same day he deviated from the approved route and stopped at 61 Invermay Rd - which was an unauthorised stop and was a breach of the order."
Magistrate Evan Hughes said that Jermy must have entered the order with his eyes wide open about the need to comply.
"You must have been aware of the challenging nature of your addiction and that compliance was the cornerstone," he said.
Mr Hughes said that Jermy received that order despite making a series of false reports to police and naming a suspect.
"That had the potential of an innocent person being brought before the court," he said.
He also had four convictions for driving with illicit substances in his body.
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Defence counsel Andrew Lonergan asked Mr Hughes to impose a fully suspended jail sentence.
Mr Hughes sentenced Jermy to five months jail but suspended three months on the condition that he commit no jailable offences for 18 months.
He backdated the sentence to March 9, 2023.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
