Grandma Rhonda Adele Thorp charged with meth trafficking at Mount Gambier International Motel

A grandmother allegedly found with a meth stash in a motel room was already on bail when she was arrested, as police mistook her pokie winnings for drug earnings.

A grandmother allegedly found with a meth stash in a Suttontown motel room was already on bail for drug trafficking charges when she was arrested.

Rhonda Adele Thorp and Stephen Craig Allen appeared at the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Monday jointly charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled drug in relation to the September 28 drug bust.

Thorp also appeared on a further two counts of trafficking a controlled drug dated February 2020.

Rhonda Adele Thorp appeared at the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on Monday charged with four counts of trafficking a controlled drug.

The court previously heard a police search conducted under the Firearms Act led to the discovery of a small amount of cannabis and a key to room six at Mount Gambier International Motel on the outskirts of the city at 11.15pm.

Police said Thorp and Allen were arrested in the room after two bags containing a total of 12g of suspected methamphetamine, a red backpack full of numerous forms of identification and two seized phones in the early hours of the next morning.

On Monday, prosecution said charge determination had been made against Thorp but not Allen with Magistrate Maria Panagiotidis dismissing his charges.

Thorp’s defence lawyer Dylan Walsh said the matter was contested and the case for the subsequent offending was “exceptionally weak”.

The answer charge date was adjourned awaiting further disclosure from prosecution and Mr Walsh requested the unemployed grandmother’s home detention bail conditions be withdrawn saying she was “complying wholeheartedly”.

“She has spent in excess of three months in custody, she’s been on home detention for four months,” he said.

“We’re not going to get to trial this year.

“We’d be hard pressed to get a trial until March next year.

Mount Gambier International Motel at Suttontown. Picture: Jessica Ball.

“Everything that’s been required of her she’s done, she’s clean of illicit substances, she’s engaging with mental health services and her doctor.”

Mr Walsh explained the prosecutor had opposed simple bail in relation to the later charges.

“Ms Thorp was found with cash in her procession, prosecution suggested that was supportive of the charge, since then I have disclosed to SAPOL a pokies winning certificate that accounts for about 95 per cent of that money,” he said.

Prosecution was opposed to the removal of the home detention conditions.

“The accused was on bail for two alleged offences of trafficking a controlled drug on the 20th of February last year … it is alleged that these fresh offences occurred when she was on bail,” the prosecutor said.

“It is my submission that those bail conditions were not sufficient to deter her.”

Magistrate Panagiotidis appreciated there had been delays but told Mr Walsh “that’s the system … there are some places where people wait a lot longer”.

She removed Thorp from home detention on the condition she was supervised by corrections and participated in ongoing alcohol and drug testing.

Thorp will reappear in June on all four counts of trafficking a controlled substance.