A woman who was allegedly found in the same car as a commercial quantity of methamphetamine and almost $10,000 in her underwear has been refused bail at court for a second time.
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Stacey Fernandez, 27, and a co-accused were intercepted driving in Bacchus Marsh on April 16, 2021.
The co-accused who was driving the car was allegedly found with 250 grams of methamphetamine in his possession, worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Police also allegedly found ecstasy tablets, knuckle dusters, scales, more than $1800 cash, ammunition and stolen power tools in the car.
Fernandez and the co-accused were arrested.
Police allegedly found more than $9600 in her underwear during a search while she was in the police cell.
A police informant told the Ballarat Magistrates' Court during a bail application on Tuesday Fernandez cried and said the co-accused had told her to conceal the money.
It was extremely high purity which means those drugs had been obtained very close to who had manufactured or ordered it.
- Police informant
Police executed a search warrant at the address where they first saw the car they were driving and found 30 grams of methamphetamine and $2000.
The court heard police found Fernandez tried to flush a bag of methamphetamine down the toilet in the police cell when they moved her to a different custody centre.
The police informant said Fernandez had an extensive criminal history and was on bail at the time of her arrest.
He said she was an unacceptable risk to the community as she had prior convictions for trafficking methamphetamine, firearms offences and dangerous driving.
The informant said messages on Fernandez's phone revealed she had been trafficking drugs and had arranged the sale of the 250 grams of methamphetamine the co-accused was carrying.
He said one message sent the day before her arrest referred to 250 grams of the drug.
"A quarter of a kilo is a large amount. It was extremely high purity which means those drugs had been obtained very close to who had manufactured or ordered it," he said.
The informant said he had particular concern given a prior incident when Fernandez was driving a car and her passenger discharged a firearm at police.
"The biggest concern is she would be going back into the same environment she has been in since 2014. She goes back into the same circles. I can't see anything has changed," he said.
Defence barrister Ashleigh Harrold said Fernandez could be bailed to live at her mother's family home, with the support of the Court Integrated Services Program, a drug rehabilitation program and her mother would provide a $10,000 surety.
Her mother gave evidence to the court she believed her daughter was now focused and driven to 'get clean' and change her life.
"As long as Stacey isn't on drugs, she is my daughter. It is when she is under the influence of drugs the other side of her comes out," she said.
Ms Harrold said Fernandez had spent 107 days on remand and this was the longest period she had spent in custody.
She said the prosecution case was weak.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said he disagreed and saw the prosecution case as strong.
He said he did not find there were exceptional circumstances for bail.
"The applicant is facing a charge for which if found guilty she will receive a substantial period of imprisonment," Mr Klestadt said.
"We are talking about a commercial quantity of a terribly debilitating drug."
Fernandez's application for bail was refused and she will return to court in November.
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