Luke William Hodgson convicted of trafficking methylamphetamine

A Mount Barker tradie who smoked two grams of meth a day for pain relief after he was hit by a car on his pushbike has been jailed for trafficking.

A Mount Barker tradie who used methylamphetamine to deal with the pain of a bike injury has been jailed for trafficking.

Luke William Hodgson, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in the District Court of South Australia.

The court heard earlier this month on April 20 last year police stopped a vehicle in Mount Barker, in which Hodgson was sitting in the passenger seat.

When police asked him to step out of the car they saw an item down his pants.

Officers found two bags containing 11.99 grams of pure meth in total, a beer can with a hidden compartment containing $1125 and electronic scales, an ice pipe and 56 resealable bags.

The court heard Hodgson had been using meth since his early to mid-20s but “not in the degree (he was) in 2020”.

The court heard Hodgson was using up to two grams a day of meth in the month leading up to the incident. Picture: File.

Hodgson was hit by a car in Mount Barker while riding a pushbike in 2018 and then began to suffer from pain in his legs in late 2019, which was later revealed to be deep vein thrombosis and blood clots in your calves.

“This caused you extreme discomfort and mobility issues,” Judge Ian Press said.

“You used methylamphetamine as a means to self-medicate and deal with the pain before you eventually received a diagnosis for those issues.

“While subsequent treatment was ultimately successful, your self-medicating resulted in an addiction involving the use of up to two grams of the drug a day in the month leading to your offending.”

A Mount Barker bike rider turned to meth after an injury. Picture: Josh Woning.

The court heard his phone had a number of messages from the fortnight preceding the search which were “consistent with selling methylamphetamine”.

He said Hodgson’s counsel had argued he was acting as a “form of courier or deliverer”,

“While I accept that there was no evidence of unexplained wealth and you were not motivated by greed, you were an important link between a supplier and purchasers,” Judge Press said.

“The amounts being distributed into the community by your facilitation were not insignificant.”

The court heard he had benefited from seven suspended sentence bonds – and had been jailed three times previously – but this did not deter him from offending.

It heard he was brought up by a retired Lutheran Minister and a former librarian and had a “fairly strict, structured and conservative” upbringing.

He was jailed for two years, nine months and 19 days and a non-parole period of one year and seven months was set.