A festival attendee who sold ketamine to an undercover detective before being found with drugs and cash has been hit with a heavy fine.
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Border man Billy Haynes, 24, was at the Beyond the Valley event at Hesse, west of Geelong, on December 30, 2023.
He spoke to another patron, unaware the man was an undercover detective from Ballarat.
Haynes asked the officer if he wanted to buy a bag of ketamine for $300, and the covert operative negotiated a price of $200.
Haynes and his friend handed over the drug and both were arrested for trafficking.
Police found Haynes had other ketamine, eight ecstasy capsules and $300 in cash.
He was interviewed by police and made full admissions to trafficking.
"I had some, I didn't need it, I wanted some money back for it," he said of the ketamine deal.
Lawyer Angus Lingham told the Wodonga court it was the 24-year-old's first offence.
Magistrate Ian Watkins told Haynes the court saw people whose "brains are fried because of drug use".
"Dealing with these sorts of drugs, as Mr Lingham said, is a very serious matter," he said.
"The courts have to deal daily with the consequences of drug abuse."
Mr Watkins said Haynes had good references from family members and was involved in the football community.
"It beggars belief that you chose to go down the path of trying to make a quid out of someone else's suffering at a music festival," he said.
Mr Watkins fined Haynes $2500 and did not impose a conviction.
Haynes' friend was previously fined the same amount.
