Mathew Golding: Illawarra meth dealer sentenced for supplying a large commercial quantity of drugs

An ice dealer who dealt nearly a kilo of drugs from an address leased through an Illawarra homeless organisation has avoided being sent behind bars.

Mathew Golding was sentenced in Wollongong District Court on Friday for supplying meth.

An ice dealer who dealt nearly a kilogram of drugs from an address leased through an Illawarra homeless organisation has avoided being sent behind bars.

Mathew Lawrence Maurice Roy Golding, 47, was sentenced in Wollongong District Court on Friday after previously pleading guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and participating in a criminal group.

The court heard the maximum prison sentence for the former offence was life, however, Judge Andrew Haesler determined Golding had taken active steps to address his drug dependence which drove his offending.

Judge Haesler sentenced Golding to a two year and 11 month intensive correction order after taking into consideration the offender’s five months in custody on remand and a year in rehabilitation.

The judge concurred with defence barrister Scott Fraser who submitted the “benefits to the community” of sending Golding to jail would be “outweighed by the impact on the offender’s rehabilitation”.

Mathew Golding leaving Wollongong District Court on Friday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

The court heard Golding had obtained employment and was still enrolled in the rehabilitation program.

“Judges need to balance the complexity of competing facts... every offender is different,” Judge Haesler said.

The court heard Golding became addicted to drugs after a workplace accident in 2011 with his first brush with the law taking place in 2017.

Golding was described as a “sole trader” who took on “all the risk” of onselling illicit substances to aid his drug habit which saw him use 1 to 1.7g of meth daily.

“The only important thing in his life was drug use, obtaining drugs and doing what was required to obtain those drugs,” Judge Haesler said.

Documents tendered in court state Golding’s crimes were uncovered by covert police spying on the offender dealing on 11 occasions in March and April 2022 – a period where he was on two community correction orders.

The drugs sales would range between 38 and 112g with a total supply of 824g with a street value of more than $400,000.

Police tracked Golding interacting with his associates, who he would meet in carparks and homes at Liverpool, Edmondson Park, Mt Pritchard and Sydney’s CBD, to procure and sell the drugs.

On April 14, 2022, police stopped Golding leaving a location at West Wollongong in a white Toyota HiLux about 10.30pm.

Officers located a plastic bag with a crystal-like substance on the floor which he denied knowledge or ownership of.

Mathew Golding supplied 824g of meth with a street value of more than $400,000.

The substance was tested at Wollongong police station and confirmed to be 11.17g of meth.

Six days later, police stopped Golding on Mt Ousley Rd at 6.30am en route to meeting an associate in Sydney.

Police located a small black box, resealable bags and 86g of meth.

Golding was arrested and a search of his Mount Saint Thomas home later that day uncovered a further 7.32g of meth, 5.27g of cannabis, 19 100mg tramadol tablets, two clonazepam tablets and 13 diazepam tablets – the latter two he did not have a prescription for.

In addition to the intensive correction order, Golding is required to completed 200 hours of community service, abstain from drugs and submit to drug testing.

The order will expire in August 2026.