An OnlyFans model has pleaded for leniency after officers allegedly found an illegal gun inside an apartment and gunshot residue on her hands during a turbulent time in her life as she battled a drug addiction.
South Australia Police arrested Alice Mabel Weekes, now 29, during a raid of an Adelaide home in May 2022 following the alleged abduction of a man.
Police found methamphetamine on a coffee table along with a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle in a backpack on the couch with an attached magazine containing rounds of ammunition.
Adelaide District Court heard this week that at the time of her arrest, Weekes was making as much as $12,000 per month on OnlyFans under the alias Poppy Days.
She had almost 700 subscribers who paid up to $19 per month for content.
But the young mum was also facing troubled times and spiralled into a methamphetamine addiction following a relationship breakdown.
Prosecutor Lisa Lakatos told the court that Weekes had gunshot residue on her hands when she was arrested.
Her DNA was found on the trigger guard and bolt of the weapon.
Alice Mabel Weekes (pictured) pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a licence and possessing an unregistered firearm
Before her arrest in 2022, Weekes made up to $12,000 a month on OnlyFans under the alias Poppy Days (pictured, her account in 2022)
‘Your Honour might find that she in fact fired the firearm given the existence of the gunshot residue on her hand,’ she said, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
‘We maintain that the gun was possessed for a nefarious purpose but we can’t say exactly what for.’
The more serious charges related to the incident – which saw a 31-year-old allegedly taken from a Mawson Lakes home in Adelaide’s north, shot and abandoned on a remote road – were dropped after the victim failed to cooperate with police.
Weekes and her co-accused, Leonard Robert Richard Wilkins, initially also faced charges including false imprisonment, theft, arson and discharging a firearm to injure, and annoy or frighten a person.
But those charges were dropped after a court previously heard the alleged victim refused to co-operate with police and supply a statement.
Weekes pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a licence and possessing an unregistered firearm prior to trial.
She also pleaded guilty to stealing $5,000 from the father of her child.
Her lawyer, Sean Nottle, told the court that Weekes was struggling to stay afloat after falling into drug addiction at the time of her offending.
Weekes’ (pictured) lawyer has pushed for her to receive a suspended or home detention sentence rather than time behind bars
‘She describes her use of methamphetamine as a blanket that she would wrap herself in to try and comfort her and the feelings she was experiencing,’ he said.
Mr Nottle further noted Weekes stole the money from a joint account following the breakdown of the pair’s relationship.
‘It is an offence that carries all the characteristics of perhaps a spiteful or vengeful action taken by somebody who has perceived some slights against them from a former partner,’ he said.
Despite the difficulties of her past, Mr Nottle was confident that his client would ‘get her life back on track’ and recommended she receive a suspended or home detention sentence.
Part of his reasoning was Weekes’ mental health issues stemming from traumas she experienced in her life.
Alice Mabel Weekes will learn her fate next month
Wilkins was jailed last year having pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, relating to the methamphetamine, and possessing the same gun.
Weekes will be sentenced later this month.
She remains on bail.
