A BENDIGO man who gave a 14-year-old child the drug ice in exchange for vandalising his ex-girlfriend’s house with spray paint has been sent to jail.
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Michael Llewellyn, 32, also took a 14-year-old child to Melbourne with him where they sold drugs on the street, and sold ice to a 17-year-old girl at a party in Bendigo.
Llewellyn – a former VFL footballer – was sentenced in the County Court in Bendigo on Friday to nine charges including two counts of recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity.
The court heard Llewellyn kicked in the front and garage doors of his ex-girlfriend’s house on February 26 before using her personal details to apply for a credit card, which was rejected. He managed to gain a SIM card using her details.
A safety order barred him from coming within 200 metres of her house, so he gave a 14-year-old child and a woman the drug ice as payment for them to spray paint her roller door. An offensive image and word were sprayed, and they smoked ice together afterwards.
Two days later, Llewellyn sold ice to a 17-year-old girl.
The following day, he gave a 14-year-old girl and a woman cannabis to vandalise his ex-girlfriend’s house again. This time they spray painted a number of offensive words and sentences using obscene language.
The court heard Llewellyn picked up a child, 14, and another person from the Bendigo Railway Station on March 8 before driving to Melbourne to sell drugs.
On March 23, he purchased ice from Melbourne and sold 1.7 grams to a person in Long Gully for $600.
He was on bail for other offences at the time.
The court was told Llewellyn, originally from Bendigo, ran a successful electrical business in Melbourne almost 10 years ago and played VFL football with Williamstown for three years.
His life “unwound” in 2013 when he was introduced to ice and he “rapidly” developed an addiction, before returning to Bendigo in 2016.
Llewellyn was placed on two separate community corrections orders in 2014 for drug, weapons and deception offences, both of which he breached.
He was placed on another order in 2015 for driving offences, which was breached again.
In 2016, he was jailed for 12 months with a six-month non-parole period for burglary, theft, family violence and driving offences.
He was placed on another order after his release which he breached within four months by committing his latest offences.
Judge Howard Mason said previous sentences had failed to stop Llewellyn’s offending.
“Clearly the message has not got through to you,” he said.
“You’ve had many opportunities given to you by the courts representing the community’s interest to assist you to try to rehabilitate yourself.”
Judge Mason described Llewellyn’s offending involving children as “truly exploitative” and it exposed them to a life of drugs and crime similar to his own.
He said it was “utterly deplorable”.
Llewellyn was jailed for three years with a two-year non-parole period.
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