Former Canberra Raiders lower-grader Jomal Nchouki jailed for drug trafficking after Belconnen Bunnings bust

Those things will no doubt be on Jomal Nchouki's mind again after a judge sent him back to prison to reflect further on his misdeeds, sentencing the 27-year-old on Tuesday to two years in jail.

Two women among Nchouki's large band of supporters hugged each other in the ACT Supreme Court, choking back tears as Justice David Mossop ordered the Theodore resident to serve four months behind bars before the rest of the sentence is suspended.

Nchouki, who now plays rugby league for the Queanbeyan Blues, attempted to reassure them with a smile, then hobbled towards the court cells on the crutches he requires after recent knee surgery.

Justice Mossop had, moments earlier, detailed how police began investigating Nchouki's drug trafficking in November 2020.

The persistence of investigators paid off in April and May 2021, when Nchouki's movements and phone records proved he was trafficking drugs to at least three men who then sold them to their own clients.

One of these men was Gilmore resident and street-level cocaine dealer Josh Anthony Wood, who took a green bucket from Nchouki at the Melba shops as police conducted surveillance on April 30 last year.

Officers with a search warrant stopped Nchouki's Nissan Navara utility in the car park of the Belconnen Bunnings later that day, finding the car contained more than 390 grams of cocaine.

A further 18 grams of the illicit drug was subsequently found in a second vehicle belonging to Nchouki.

Justice Mossop said the total amount seized had an estimated street value of up to $159,580.

Nchouki, who ultimately pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking charge and a series of driving offences, gave evidence at a sentence hearing earlier this month.

He told the court he was selfish and "only thinking about taking drugs" while he was trafficking cocaine.

The 27-year-old said he had started doing this in order to fund his own "raging" drug addiction and pay off debts he owed an unidentified "bloke on a job site", who supplied him with cocaine.

While Nchouki spent almost all of the time between his arrest and Tuesday's sentencing on bail, he was briefly remanded in custody.

Justice Mossop said Nchouki had credited the period in jail with helping him appreciate the importance of his family, including his partner, who had temporarily separated from him because of his drug use.

He said that drug use had escalated over many years, having started after Nchouki's brothers, who had largely raised him, introduced him to alcohol and illicit substances.

While Nchouki had not previously attempted drug rehabilitation, Justice Mossop said the offender had expressed a willingness to engage with support services.

"The offender struck me as engaging," Justice Mossop said of Nchouki's testimony, adding that the 27-year-old appeared to have insight into his crimes and a genuine motivation to change.

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The judge also noted that Nchouki's prior criminal history was limited to just three driving offences from 2015.

While Justice Mossop found Nchouki had good prospects for rehabilitation, he said others needed to be deterred from "this sort of serious drug trafficking" and an intensive correction order would not do that.

He accordingly concluded that Nchouki had to be sentenced to full-time imprisonment, though he thought a lengthy stint behind bars may set back his rehabilitation by exposing him to bad influences.

With Nchouki's sentence backdated to reflect the time spent on remand, the younger brother of former Canberra Nomads bikie boss Mohammed Nchouki will be released from jail just before Christmas.

Justice Mossop also fined him $3250 for the driving offences. The "mid-level dealer" will not have to pay this amount, however, with the monetary penalties reduced by $300 each day he spends in custody.

Wood, who also pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine, was given an intensive correction order last year.

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