A Wodonga drug trafficker caught dealing in Wangaratta and survivor of a high-speed Springhurst collision with a truck has been jailed more than five years. Casey Ferrara, 30, faced the Melbourne County Court last Friday, 27 February to receive his sentence on seven charges involving drug trafficking and conduct endangering life. Judge Anne Hassan ordered the five year and four month prison sentence be served with three years and four months non-parole as Ferrara sat without reaction from a virtual prison link. The court heard on 12 October, 2024 Ferrara collided with a truck’s trailer on the Hume Freeway near Springhurst at a “hair-raising” 191km/h attempting an overtake. Ferrara’s stolen Subaru hit the roadside barrier before rolling several times, and coming to a rest on the other side of the freeway. Ferrara fled into a nearby paddock until reaching a Benton Road property, about 1km from the collision scene, where he received assistance from the property owners and he was picked up by a friend. His extensively damaged car was searched, with police seizing a bottle of 1,4 butanediol and an Australia Post package with Chinese writing, clothes and car parts. A month later on 18 November, 2024, Ferrara and a 29-year-old woman co-accused were arrested at a Wangaratta hotel in a stolen Maserati. Police seized an alleged $10,000 worth of methylamphetamine and $12,000 worth of 1,4 butanediol from the Wangaratta hotel room, with messages on Ferrara’s phone indicating deals of trafficking. The Maserati had been one of two vehicles stolen from a Table Top address. Ferrara was charged with trafficking the 82.5g of meth while his co-accused was charged with the dealing of the 1,4 butanediol. The 29-year-old Wodonga woman co-accused is set to face a committal hearing at the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on 19 March. The court heard drugs had plagued much of Ferrara’s life and he had been in and out of prison on a long criminal history throughout his 20s. Judge Hassan said while she found Ferrara’s prospects of rehab guarded due to his long history, it was not hopeless. “Drug trafficking is a scourge on society, it ruins lives and it’s often young lives,” she said. “You say you want to change… but you have a lengthy criminal history and have not been able to restrain from drug use in the past. “You say this is it, I hope that’s the case.” Ferrara served 107 days in custody before making bail on 6 March, 2025. He found himself back into custody on 5 June and is serving a 12-month prison sentence handed down in the Magistrates’ Court for separate offending.
