Man jailed over meth lab explosion
A man has been jailed for five years over a suburban drug laboratory explosion that burnt a young person.
Mark Joseph Dennehy, 33, was sent behind bars today for his "selfish" bid to make methamphetamine at a Bertram property which went wrong and caused a massive explosion last year.
It is understood he is one of the first to be charged under laws making jail mandatory for those who manufacture drugs and harm a child aged under 16 in the process.
Today the District Court was told that the blast had literally blown the roof one and a half metres into the air and melted roller shutters that had been over the shut windows.
The home was completely destroyed, with the damage bill on the home being $284,000.
Gas had accumulated in the home during Dennehy's bid to make illegal drugs to feed his drug habit, the court was told.
The 33-year-old had known of the dangers when he embarked on the manufacture, the court was told, and had spent $200 a week on ingredients and items used in the process.
He had purchased 32 packets of pseudoephedrine products between September 2011 and July 2012.
A young person aged under 16 who had been present at the property during the blast suffered burns to the face and hands and feet but would make a recovery despite possible scarring.
Dennehy had lied to emergency staff when they arrived at the scene, claiming it was a gas heater that exploded.
A police search found drug-making items with residue of a former successful manufacture.
District Court Judge Kevin Sleight said the case was serious and came against an increase in the number of clandestine laboratories that exposed the community, including emergency staff, to serious risk.
The young person could have died, the judge said, and the risks were well known.
"You must surely have been aware of the risks involved in manufacturing amphetamine," he said. "You selfishly exposed ... others to harm."
Dennehy's guilty plea, remorse and lack of prior record were all taken into account. He was made eligible for parole.
