Overview
- Pickett pleaded guilty in May to dealing with and possessing money that was the proceeds of an offence after most of his original 12 charges were dropped.
- Perth District Court imposed a two-year prison sentence suspended for 12 months, with the judge describing the outcome as a “knife’s edge” decision and warning he would likely be jailed if he reoffends.
- The court heard Pickett helped co-accused by signing a car rental used to transport stolen foreign currency interstate and later exchanged US$5,000, receiving two bank transfers for his role.
- Sentencing took into account a documented mental-health decline, a meth relapse, family pressures and strong character references, including from former Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale and 2022 WA Australian of the Year Paul Litherland.
- Outcomes for co-accused diverged, with Kurtley Thorne jailed for 14 years and nine months for multiple offences including thefts and separate child sex crimes, while Paul Freddy Pina Mardones has not yet entered pleas to multiple charges.