Hayden Lewis Thomas Smith-Lavel faces Toowoomba Supreme Court for trafficking meth

A 26-year-old took to dealing meth in Toowoomba to support his own drug addiction, but his month-long operation came to an end after a forensic analysis of his phone gave police the proof they needed.

A 26-year-old Toowoomba man who pleaded guilty to trafficking and supplying meth over a one month period has been handed a three-year jail term.

However, Hayden Lewis Thomas Smith-Lavel was released on immediate parole which will hang over his head for the next three years.

The then 23-year-old had trafficked meth to at least nine customers over a one month period in May and June 2020, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told Toowoomba Supreme Court.

The trafficking was at street level or low amounts and he had supplied customers with the drug at his home for cash or credit but he also accepted items as payment, she said.

Hayden Lewis Thomas Smith-Lavel outside Toowoomba Courthouse on February 27, 2023.

His trafficking came to light after police pulled over the car in which he was a passenger.

During the police search of the vehicle, Smith-Lavel’s mobile phone was seized and later analysed by police which showed the drug supply messages, Ms Friedewald told the court.

Despite that incident, police had searched Smith-Lavel’s home about one month later in September 2020 and again seized the mobile phone he was using and again found three messages relating to drug supplies, she said.

Ms Friedewald said it was accepted by the Crown that Smith-Lavel was dealing in drugs to support his own drug habit.

Smith-Lavel had spent 71 days in custody after his arrest but that had been for non-related matters and that time could not be declared under this sentence, she said.

Defence barrister Adam Mason said his client had a good work record but had turned to drugs after the death of his father who he had been caring for.

Smith-Lavel was now employed by his brother in the motor vehicle industry and had been engaged with the Lives Lived Well program to rehabilitate, he said.

The 26-year-old no longer associated with the people involved in drugs and was clean of drugs, Mr Mason said.

Justice Peter Applegarth warned the offender what he faced if he breached parole.

Justice Peter Applegarth told Smith-Lavel he had seen the inside of a jail cell and it would be up to him over the next three years whether he returned himself to prison.

“You know who’s in there and you’ll be going back to meet them if you breach your parole,” Justice Applegarth warned.

Smith-Lavel was sentenced to three years in jail but released on immediate parole.

Originally published as Hayden Lewis Thomas Smith-Lavel faces Toowoomba Supreme Court for trafficking meth