Shaun Ashley Trease, 51, of Numurkah, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to three counts of drug driving, possessing oxycodone, possessing methamphetamines, using methamphetamines, possessing a prohibited weapon, failing to record required information in a work diary and failing to record required information immediately after starting.
Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Carita Thompson told the court Trease tested positive to methamphetamines in a drug test after police pulled over his Kenworth prime mover truck on Tocumwal Rd at Numurkah on November 8 last year.
They also found two zip-lock bags containing methamphetamines in the truck, as well as oxycodone, drug paraphernalia and a spring-loaded double-edged knife.
Police also spoke to him about a defective tyre on the truck and gave him a warning to replace it.
When questioned by police about the positive drug test, Trease told them “he had just used”, Leading Sen Constable Thompson said.
The court heard Trease again tested positive to methamphetamines in a drug test after he was pulled over while driving a truck on Tocumwal Rd at Numurkah on July 12.
Sixteen days later, on July 30, he again tested positive to methamphetamines in a drug test when his truck was pulled over on the Murray Valley Hwy at Kerang.
On that occasion, police also found problems with his truck logbook, including that he had not put in any information that day, and his last recorded information, on July 23, was incomplete.
Trease’s defence barrister, Warwick Walsh-Buckley, said his client had lost his job as a truck driver after his employer became aware of his drug driving charges.
He said Trease owned his own truck and now had to have someone drive it for him.
Mr Walsh-Buckley also told the court Trease had started using methamphetamines after a back operation.
Speaking to the magistrate himself, Trease said two of the occasions he was stopped by police were when he was “reversing up my driveway”.
Magistrate Olivia Trumble said she was concerned about Trease’s methamphetamine use, with three drug driving charges in this matter, and one previous one.
“What he’s engaged in is very risky behaviour,” she said.
“He’s the driver of a very large vehicle, with methamphetamine in his system, not once, not twice, but three times. Four, if you count the previous one.”
Ms Trumble said Trease had “a long history of drug use”.
“This is very concerning to see someone who is a professional driver come before the court (driving) with methamphetamines four times in 12 months,” she said.
Ms Trumble ordered Trease to have an assessment for suitability for a community corrections order so that his methamphetamine use could be “dealt with properly”.
However, while the community corrections order assessment came back with him being suitable to be placed on an order, the assessor raised concerns about him needing to travel interstate to train someone to drive his truck.
Corrections orders prohibit people from leaving Victoria without prior permission.
The magistrate deferred Trease’s sentence until mid-December, but said he had to do drug counselling and drug urine screening tests until then.
“If you come back then and are clean, we will sentence you to something other than a community corrections order,” Ms Trumble said.
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