Mum supplied cannabis from home she shared with 12 year-old son
Thea Kassim was given a 'last chance' by a court
A mother who supplied cannabis from home was told how destructive the drug is to society as she narrowly avoided prison. Thea Kassim was involved in selling cannabis to friends and family to fund her own habit, Newport Crown Court heard.
When police searched the property they found two bags of cannabis weighing 6.95g, which the defendant accepted was hers, as well as an iPhone and more than £300 in cash.
When the phone was searched it was found to contain messages with advertisements for the sale of cannabis and slang terms for weights including "HQ" for half a quarter of an ounce, Thursday's hearing was told.
One message read out in court said: "I got to pick ounce up for my dad. If you want can pick up for you." Other references were made to "Cali pot", a strain of cannabis. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter.
"There is not naivete or exploitation in this case," Emma Harris, prosecuting, told the court. "This is a substantial weight. The defendant has a financial reward."
David Pinnell, defending, said it was a "one-woman operation", that Kassim was funding her own habit and under pressure caring for her 12-year-old son and mother. He said his client was working hard to now curb her cannabis use.
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While the 30 year-old had worked in the past as a crane driver, steel worker, and forklift driver the last year had been difficult with her son starting high school, he said.
Kassim of Clyffard Crescent, Newport, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to intent to supply cannabis and and being concerned in the supply of cannabis between December 30, 2023, and April 30, 2023.
Sentencing the mother-of-one to an 18-month community order to run concurrently on the two counts Recorder Andrew Hammond told her he was giving her "a last chance" and that the Class B drug was "not victimless".
"The trade in cannabis is sometimes referred to as victimless. That's wrong.
"It is at best short-sighted and ultimately self-centred to involve yourself in the trade of cannabis," the judge told Kassim.
"Every day up and down the country people appear in courts because of violent crime made considerably worse by cannabis. That is the world you have chosen to be part of for reasons of financial gain and selfishness.
"You say you were supplying only friends and family solely to fund your own use of cannabis. The prosecution say: 'Yes but look at the amounts referred to in text messages'.
"You are largely involved to maintain your habit but did make some profit, falling short of significant gain."
And he went on: "You were supplying drugs from premises where you had a child, which is an aggravating feature."
He said he recognised Kassim had sole care of a 12-year-old son with some disabilities and cared for a mother with ill health too. He recognised she was engaging with drug services to try to cut back on her use of cannabis.
"I am giving you an opportunity to carry on turning your life around. Look on it as a last chance," he told her.
Kassim was also ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work, 15 days of rehabilitation, and to pay £400 prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £114.
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