A former Bimberi staffer who was caught sneaking cannabis behind bars for a teenage detainee was also a veteran firefighter and well-respected member of his community.
Now Gregory John Adam, who was sacked from his job because of the charges against him, will have a suspended sentence hanging over his head for two years.
The 54-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis for supply to a child and taking a prohibited thing - flint and matches - into the territory's youth justice centre.
Magistrate Peter Dingwall yesterday described the motivation for the crime as ''a complete mystery''.
Mr Dingwall yesterday placed Adam on a two-year suspended sentence, attached to a two-year good-behaviour order, and fined him $5000.
This was despite prosecutor Shane Drumgold pushing for a full-time jail sentence.
The 54-year-old's only previous black mark against his name was a decades-old speeding offence, and there was no evidence he was destined to make money from the handover.
But the man's lawyer Paul Edmonds said it appeared his client was effectively ''nagged'' into providing the drug.
The court heard Adam agreed, under pressure, to bring tobacco in to the boy - then 17 - and collected a package from the boy's sister.
Mr Edmonds acknowledged while his client did not look inside the package he had a suspicion it might have contained drugs - enough to prove the offence.
''Numerous young people are always asking guards to bring tobacco into the centre,'' Mr Edmonds said.
''The bottom line is his resolve to resist what he was being constantly asked to do wasn't strong enough.
''He did give in, in part out of some obviously completely [inappropriate] thought that this would some how help the young person.''
Adam brought the package into the centre last July and kicked it underneath the young person's cell door, where it was later found by another staff member.
The court heard the package contained less than two grams of the drug.
Mr Drumgold urged the magistrate to jail the man immediately, arguing nothing but a full-time prison sentence would send the right message of condemnation.
''The vulnerable victim was a young person in the state's custody, in the state's care - and the defendant was the man charged with executing that care,'' he said.
But Mr Dingwall took into account the man's ''very significant public service'' said the man's public exposure through the media was, in itself, a form of punishment.
Adam spent three decades with the NSW Fire Brigade, rising to the rank of station commander in Harden.
Mr Edmonds said he had been well regarded in his community until word of the offence got out.
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