A court has been informed that the brother of former NSW police minister and deputy premier Paul Toole fell victim to drug addiction as a result of their nine-sibling family’s “violent” upbringing.

Joshua Toole, 40, admitted guilt to one count of supplying a significant commercial amount of the substance ice and was today sentenced to six years in prison.

He will be three years and six months from June 2023 to December 20, 2026, when he is eligible for parole.

Toole hugged fans and family at the back of the courtroom following the announcement of the sentence in the District Court in Newcastle before being taken into custody.

The court heard that Toole might be returned to a protection unit because of the bogus accusations made against him and the media attention the case has received.

After his arrest in 2022, Toole was placed on remand and spent several months in isolation, spending 23 hours a day alone himself in his cell. He was eventually released on bond.

Phillip Boulten SC, a defense attorney, called the state of affairs “classic solitary confinement”.

Boulten declared, “He’s going back to those conditions.”

Penalties Judge Roy Ellis stated that prison officials will decide Toole’s course of action during his confinement.

“The department might take what they consider to be the safe course by putting him in a high-protection unit,” Ellis stated.

“Whether that’s because of the rumours about assisting police or … by having a brother who’s the former police minister.”

Kurt Toole, another brother, is incarcerated and is not receiving special protection, the court heard.

Joshua, the youngest sibling, was frequently the victim of assault from his elder brothers, according to Toole’s sister Carmel Vogelsang. Joshua was considered the “baby” in the family.

“Obviously with so many different personalities and different age groups there was fighting,” she stated.

“Sometimes there was more violence than you would expect.”

There is no indication that Paul Toole or the parents—who Vogelsang called “absolutely beautiful”—were the source of the assault.

When his brother was arrested, Toole was the NSW deputy premier and minister of police. Following the Coalition’s defeat in the state election in March, Toole is currently the shadow minister of police.

Joshua Toole is no stranger to the criminal justice system; in 2010, he was given a 14-year sentence for offenses including the distribution of ice and cannabis, of which he is currently serving nine years.

Following a police sting in which he was contacted by an undercover officer wanting to purchase five ounces of ice, Toole was arrested once more in October 2022 while still on probation. He was freed in 2019.

Prosecutors said that Toole was a “facilitator” in the transaction and that he operated a criminal organization that supplied drugs throughout the Central Coast and Hunter region of New South Wales using the encrypted app Threema and the handle “Smiley.”

The 42-year-old Paul Colvin, whom Toole connected with the police to procure the drugs, was also sentenced today, to a total of three years and six months.

Following the sting, police conducted a series of raids at Belmont North, Nords Wharf, and Wadalba and found two kilograms of methylamphetamine, which had a street value of almost $2 million, along with $220,000 in cash.

According to Vogelsang, Joshua has changed since quitting narcotics, and his family will be there for him when he is released.

“There’s nine of us and we’ll be there for him all the way,” she replied.