Jesse Dylan Hodnett faces Bundaberg court for drug offences, not giving cops access to phone

A young man refused to follow a court order when police searched his home and it resulted in him facing the magistrate. Here’s what happened.

Jesse Dylan Hodnett faced Bundaberg Magistrates Court after he refused to comply with an order to give police access to his phone during a search.

A young man has been ordered to complete 200 hours of community service after he “flouted” a court’s order to give police access to his phone during a search.

Jesse Dylan Hodnett, 21, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday to three offences including contravening an order about information necessary to access information stored electronically.

Police searched Hodnett’s home at Agnes Water in May this year where they found marijuana and a pipe.

Three packs of marijuana were found on a table near the kitchen, totalling a weight of 84.6g.

A water pipe was also found, as well as a silver box of chopped marijuana seed and stem.

Hodnett was told by police that the search warrant included an order that was signed by a magistrate, which required him to give officers access to his devices for the purposes of the search.

Hodnett denied having a current mobile phone, telling the officers it was broken.

Officers found a phone belonging to a woman in Hodnett’s house, who was present during the search, and rang a number under the name of Jesse.

Hodnett continued to deny owning a phone and refused to give police the code to unlock an iPad.

He then told officers he sustained a brain injury after being involved in a crash a few years ago and needed a scan and that he couldn’t remember the access code.

Police then saw the woman concealing an item, which was revealed to be a phone belonging to Hodnett.

Hodnett then refused to give police the code to unlock the phone and he was given a notice to appear.

The court heard Hodnett had drug offences in his history.

Hodnett’s lawyer Matthew Messenger told the court his client accepted he needed to get marijuana out of his life.

Mr Messenger said it was accepted Hodnett had the drug offences in his history and that his plea came at an early opportunity.

He said when looking at comparable cases, Hodnett’s offending fell at the lower end of the scale and that there was not a “large quantity” of drugs found.

Mr Messenger told the court Hodnett had been seriously injured in a crash about three years ago, where he spent 11 days in a coma.

He said Hodnett had just purchased a cleaning business in Agnes Water with his partner.

Magistrate Andrew Moloney considered the contravention of the order as the most serious offence and said that even for a first offence imprisonment was not out of the question.

“It’s a very serious offence,” he said.

“Part of the gravamen of this is before an order can even be made by a magistrate, they have to be satisfied that there might be evidence on that phone.

“So it’s a court order, it’s an order to produce it and he’s flouting that by refusing to do so.

“The gravamen of that charge is that it potentially conceals more serious offending and has the potential to affect the police investigation.”

Mr Moloney said Hodnett’s young age was in his favour and his criminal history was limited.

He said he accepted while imprisonment was within range it wasn’t a last resort, but would reflect the seriousness through a community based order.

Hodnett was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service and a conviction was not recorded.