A Florey woman who sold drugs out of her apartment in the presence of her young daughter has been jailed for 10 months and warned she faces a stark choice between her addiction and her child.
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And a judge said 44-year-old Donna Margaret Pye was ''simply not credible'' when she claimed she had kicked a long-standing drug habit after just weeks of treatment.
Pye was being sentenced after pleading guilty to one charge of drug trafficking. The ACT Supreme Court heard police had a surveillance operation around Pye's unit on November 1 and saw a number of people make short visits to the property.
They spoke to a man and a woman who admitted buying ''points'' of ice from Pye for $50 a point.
One man said he paid Pye $50 and injected the ice in her apartment before leaving while the woman told police she bought two ''points'' of ice for herself and a friend.
Both admitted buying drugs from Pye in the past.
Police searched the apartment and found cash, bags of cannabis, heroin and powders, and lists with people's names.
Pye denied any knowledge of the bags, claiming the cannabis was hers for personal use, and said the lists of names were notes taken while playing cards.
She initially maintained her innocence but changed her plea to guilty in March.
The court heard Pye had a significant criminal history, including multiple convictions for drug dealing. Justice John Burns said there was ''strong indication of street level dealing'' on Pye's part.
He said she had left home as a young teen after suffering abuse and violence at the hands of her stepfather and became addicted to drugs after a serious 18-year relationship broke down.
Pye told the author of a pre-sentence report that she did not think she had done anything wrong and had only bought drugs for herself and a friend.
She had a turning point when she fell pregnant with her now six-year-old daughter but relapsed into drug use again.
The court heard she had repeatedly failed to turn up for drug testing and had been discharged from a court-ordered rehab program after just seven weeks after conflict with staff and other patients.
She was assessed as a high risk of reoffending.
Pye claimed she had left the rehab centre because she feared she would lose her public housing unit if she did not live in it for six months.
She also told the court that a 21-day stint in custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the territory's jail and remand centre, had left her clean of heroin.
But Justice Burns said her statement was simply not credible.
''To suggest that such a long-standing addiction has been adequately addressed by 21 days in custody is simply unrealistic,'' he said.
Justice Burns said Pye had been carrying out a low-level business dealing amphetamines but accepted she sold drugs partly to fund her own habit.
He told the woman she faced a very profound decision.
''You have a choice between your daughter and your drug addiction, it's as stark as that,'' he said.
He sentenced Pye to a total of 18 months' jail, backdated to June to account for time spent in rehab and custody, and ordered her to be released after 10 months.
He also placed her on a good-behaviour order for two years after her release in April next year.
