Manjimup man Liam Phillip Beedeison jailed for assisting in supply of methamphetamine

A 26-year-old Manjimup man has been jailed for assisting in the supply of methamphetamine into the South West after relapsing into drug use. Liam Phillip Beedeison was sentenced to a two-year and 10-month jail term after pleading guilty to supplying 24g of methamphetamine to another person, possessing 2.55g of that same methamphetamine with intent to sell or supply and possessing more than $28,000 cash that was suspected to have been unlawfully obtained. The court was told Beedeison met an unknown associate at a petrol station on the Forrest Highway in the Myalup area on August 15 last year where he supplied 24g of methamphetamine in exchange for $28,850 cash. Several days later, police sighted Beedeison driving in the Broadwater area when he was stopped and had his vehicle searched. During the search, officers located and seized 2.55g of methamphetamine inside a clip-seal bag, the cash as well as a CD holder that contained several empty clip-seal bags and digital scales. In a police interview, Beedeison made admissions to the offending and told police the smaller quantity of methamphetamine was taken from the original 24g he supplied and he intended on delivering the cash to another person. The court was also told the offending placed Beedeison in breach of a conditional suspended imprisonment order he had been placed on for a range of offences including being armed in a way that may cause fear, criminal damage, assault occasioning bodily harm and stealing a motor vehicle. Those offences stemmed from an incident on August 1 2020 where Beedeison armed himself with an axe and was seen at his ex-partner’s house yelling and swinging the axe at external walls and windows. When he was taken home by his father and another man, Beedeison also got into an argument with his father which escalated into a physical altercation. After punching and hitting his father with the axe, Beedeison took his father’s car keys and attempted to drive off, colliding into several parked cars before ultimately crashing into a fence of another property. In submissions, Beedeison’s defence counsel Seamus Rafferty told the court his client had previously attending counselling and rehabilitated himself from his methamphetamine addiction but fell into a heavy relapse which saw him use significant quantities of the drug. Mr Rafferty submitted that it was at this point in Beedeison’s life that he was contacted to help with the supply of the methamphetamine by effectively acting as a courier and had no further involvement in the drug dealing and coming clean to police when he was arrested. It was also submitted that Beedeison began using methamphetamine as a teenager to numb the traumatic feelings and experiences of his childhood where he allegedly witnessed family violence perpetrated by his father and Beedeison was in a methamphetamine-fuelled rage during the August 2020 incident. In sentencing, District Court Judge David MacLean acknowledged Beedeison’s low level involvement in the supply of methamphetamine into the community. Judge MacLean also told Beedeison that despite what he might have experienced in his childhood, he should not have taken the law into his own hands in assaulting his father back in 2020. Beedeison’s jail term was backdated to August 2021 and will be eligible for parole in January. “I hope you see this as an opportunity to finally take control of your life,” Judge MacLean said.