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Brianna Costigan: Jason Costigan’s daughter flushed drugs down toilet
The daughter of Queensland MP Jason Costigan tried to flush cocaine and heroin down the toilet when police came knocking at her friend’s Maroubra unit last year, court documents have revealed.
Brianna Costigan has escaped conviction for charges of drug possession and having stolen goods in custody after she pleaded guilty to the offences at Waverley Local Court on Friday.
The UNSW scholarship student, who told the court she was set to begin studying criminal law next trimester, appeared alongside her mother sans the headscarf she has sported in social media posts having recently converted to Islam.
Brianna Grace Costigan, who is the daughter of Queensland MP Jason Costigan
Her lawyer Ihab Jamal told the court his client was remorseful and had been “pressured” into holding the drugs and a stolen trolley by her now ex-partner.
Agreed facts revealed the freshly turned 20-year-old had two small plastic bags in her purse – one containing heroin and the other cocaine – when she arrived to find police speaking with her mother at the Boyce St apartment on April 26, 2019.
Under the ruse of retrieving her passport from her handbag, she “bolted” to the bathroom and “began emptying the contents of her bag into the toilet”.
“Police pulled the accused away from the toilet and arrested her,” the facts state.
She is the daughter of MP Jason Costigan. Picture: Alix Sweeney
During a search of the unit officers found a black and silver trolley that had been reported stolen from a secure locker on Anzac Pde, Maroubra on April 22, 2019.
On Costigan’s mobile phone were images of a Ryobi generator and Coleman Cooker – both green colour – that had been reported stolen in the same incident and were advertised on a buy and sell page for $500 and $70 respectively.
The posts were made by the Kensington woman’s personal Facebook profile, but Mr Jamal told the court they were in fact authored by her ex-partner.
Magistrate Alison Hawkins said it appeared that former boyfriend had been a bad influence.
“I hope that partner stays ex,” she said.
Costigan had found herself “in deep water very quickly” after the gifted student’s move from Queensland to Sydney, Magistrate Hawkins said, and her bright future could be “undone by some very bad choices”.
She imposed an 18-month community release order for the goods in custody charge and 12-month good behaviour bond for the drugs offence, with no conviction recorded.Originally published in The Daily Telegraph:
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-sydney/brianna-costigan-jason-costigans-daughter-flushed-drugs-down-toilet/news-story/ef52c2fb6a68465ed99313d340435b98