Kodi Uthmann to be sentenced for couriering 135g of meth and a loaded gun

A man caught with meth and a loaded gun was desperate to stop dealing but after two stabbings lived in fear of the reprisals of his violent drug associates.

A meth addict felt he had no choice but to continue selling drugs after being manipulated with violence and after threats were made to his family.

Kodi Uthmann, 27, was so in fear of further reprisals he agreed to courier a significant amount of methamphetamine and a loaded gun.

The Adelaide District Court on Tuesday heard police searched an address on January 8, 2020 and later saw Uthmann driving past.

Police searched his car at Birkenhead and found 135.3g of mixed methamphetamine, with a pure quantity of 86.9g, a firearm loaded with nine rounds, ammunition and $2910.

The value of the methamphetamine was between $12,500 and over $50,000.

“Illegal firearms present a very real threat to the safety of the community,” the prosecutor said.

Uthmann, of Modbury North, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and possessing a firearm and ammunition.

Kodi Uthmann will be sentenced next month for drug trafficking and possessing a firearm. Picture: Facebook

Andrew Graham, for Uthmann, told the court he was manipulated with violence to continue drug dealing.

“There was an incident at Castle Plaza in Edwardstown where he was lured to the shopping centre, stabbed in the chest (and) suffered a punctured lung,” he said.

“There are also some threats following that assault upon him made to his family.

“He took them seriously.

“And he reverted to selling drugs to pay the debt and obviously in fear of any further reprisals.”

The court heard when Uthmann was released from jail for previous drug dealing offences he was found by his old associates and stabbed in the shoulder.

“At that stage, again, he decided to continue dealing in order to pay the debt and of course avoid further violence upon him,” Mr Graham said.

“He was couriering the larger amount of drugs.

“He was to deliver the drugs from point A to point B and indeed that was the case with the firearm as well.”

Mr Graham said Uthmann was addicted to methamphetamine and had a traumatic upbringing.

“The drug use escalated to the extent that he became in – I think what fairly be described as low level trafficking,” he said.

“It wasn’t that he had possession of the firearm in order to protect his own stash or to enforce drug debts or anything of that nature.”

Judge Adam Kimber said it was particularly serious considering he was passing on a loaded weapon to someone.

The court heard Uthmann had a job as an apprentice for a plumbing company available to him once released.

“This is still a young man who hasn’t been able to cope with the pressures that life has put on him,” Mr Graham said.

Judge Kimber will sentence Uthmann next month.