A Greek Australian Adelaide man was found guilty of drug trafficking at Adelaide’s District Court on Friday.
Con Psarras, was arrested in May after leaving a sports bag containing 7.68kg of the GHB drug – known as fantasy – at the front counter of the Findon Hotel.
The 31-year-old handed the bag to the staff with the request to have it looked after while he was sourcing money for his booking.
As reported by the ABC, hotel employees became suspicious after noticing the bag’s visible content included a “viscous liquid-like drug” in a plastic container, and proceeded with calling the police following the man’s return to book while refusing to give out his credit card details.
Mr Psarras pleaded guilty to a charge facing a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $1 million fine.
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But Judge Paul Cuthbertson handed out a two-year suspended sentence because of the “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the case.
“Although the quantity of the drug is such that it comes within the offence of trafficking in a large commercial quantity, the circumstances of the offending are unusual in that [it is] far from suggesting a highly professional, serious and organised crime offence,” Judge Cuthbertson said, while dubbing the offending “unusual in the extreme” and “stupid behaviour”.
“It bears all the appearances of being extremely amateur and committed under circumstances suggesting the offender may well have been under the influence of some drugs at the time due to the certain risk he was running of putting drugs into the custody of the hotel and thus risking a serious criminal charge.”
Judge Cuthbertson suspended the non-parole two year sentence for a $100 bond and conditions including drug testing and 200 hours of community service.
Mr Psarras, who has already spent five months in custody, is said to enjoy his family support in rehabilitation efforts.