A former champion boxer who held a national title and won a silver medal representing Australia will walk free from prison in six months after being caught dealing more than 40 ounces of cannabis over three months.

The NT Supreme Court heard police found 33 small clip-seal bags, each containing one gram of cannabis, during a search of Samuel Babol’s house in The Narrows on December 18 last year.

Babol, 42, had been dealing cannabis since April 2018 and admitted he knew some of the drug he was selling was bound for remote Indigenous communities.

When arrested, Babol told police he had been selling cannabis to support his ex-wife and two teenage sons, who lived in Adelaide, and had been sending almost all of his profits directly to them.

The court heard Babol was born in the Philippines but migrated to Darwin when he was 10.

He was an accomplished boxer in his youth, winning a Golden Gloves title at age 24, before winning an Australian bantamweight title a year later.

The following year he went on to represent Australia at the Oceanic Championships, winning a silver medal, and soon after he won a bronze medal at another championship competition in Malaysia.

But when he missed out on selection in the Australian boxing team, Babol was “extremely disappointed” and turned to cannabis to deal with the setback.

He was convicted of possessing cannabis in May 2012, before he was caught supplying and possessing cannabis a year later and jailed for two months.

Then in March 2017, Babol was sentenced to six weeks in prison for supplying a less than commercial quantity of cannabis to an Indigenous community.

Chief Justice Michael Grant said Babol’s most recent offending would see him convicted of selling around four kilograms of cannabis in total.

“The objective seriousness of the cannabis supply offence is of a relatively high level,” Chief Justice Grant said.

“You involved yourself in the supply of a commercial quantity of cannabis over an extended period of time, much of which was destined for Aboriginal communities.

“This court has frequently made comment concerning the corrosive effects of cannabis in Aboriginal communities, particularly when it is sold at such inflated prices.”

Chief Justice Grant sentenced Babol to two years in prison, fully suspended after serving six months.

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