A CURLY-blond hairdresser who became the city's drug kingpin will today be sentenced for controlling one of the biggest speed and ecstasy trafficking syndicates ever busted in Cairns.

At just 20, Leif Juyana Sharkey was already making $25,000 profit a week from his large-scale speed and ecstasy business, Cairns Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Sharkey, now 22, yesterday pleaded guilty to 13 charges including trafficking, possessing and supplying methamphetamine and ecstasy.

His then-girlfriend, Kristy Marie Bianchi, was sentenced yesterday for her part in the drug trade.

The pair were charged after a four-month police investigation in 2006 codenamed Echo Nuclear.

Crown prosecutor Shauna Rankine told the court Cairns detectives bugged the home of Sharkey and Bianchi, tapping into conversations between the pair and Sharkey’s buyers.

Ms Rankine said that during two months of surveillance, the Innisfail-born drug wholesaler made about 44 identifiable sales of ecstasy and 38 methamphetamine transactions.

She said he had customers as far away as Mt Isa, Townsville and Mackay.

When police closed in on the trafficking business at the end of November 2006, Sharkey was found with 4575 ecstasy pills and 426g of methamphetamine powder with… a street value of more than $140,000. He also was found with $114,000 in cash and an $80,000 bank cheque.

The court heard he also had a quantity of cocaine and had offered to supply heroin.

"There was effectively a smorgasbord of drugs available," Ms Rankine said. "In the Cairns area he was at the top of the scale."

While the prosecution did not allege that Bianchi, 21, was key to the drug operation, Ms Rankine said she was well aware of the extent of the business and offered help on several occasions.

Ms Rankine said Bianchi, who pleaded guilty to supplying and possessing ecstasy and speed, and possessing property obtained from trafficking, was overheard counting $3000 in drug proceeds.

She also hid Sharkey’s stash of drugs when he was arrested, and supplied speed and ecstasy.

Her barrister, Kevin McCreanor told the court his client became besotted with Sharkey, "a curly-blond haired hairdresser", and fell deeply in love.

Mr McCreanor said Bianchi tried to convince her boyfriend to stop dealing drugs but he was the dominant one in the
relationship.

However, Ms Rankine said: "It’s not the case that she was the pillar of virtue trying to stop him and help him".

In sentencing, Justice Stanley Jones said Bianchi was at a vulnerable age and found herself embroiled in an affair with someone "who probably wasn’t worth your attention".

He ordered her to complete two years’ probation and did not record a conviction.

Justice Jones will hand down his decision on Sharkey’s sentence today, with prosecution asking for 12 to 14 years’ jail.

Defence barrister Jim Henry, SC, has asked that a sentence of six to eight years be considered.

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