Todd Lewis: Kilcunda man jailed for drug trafficking

A Kilcunda drug dealer with Covid symptoms said his “rights” were taken when police took him into custody without getting tested. He wailed in court as his jail sentence was read out.

Kilcunda man Todd Lewis was jailed for drug trafficking.

A Kilcunda drug dealer who was busted with a haul of ice wailed in court after he was sentenced to jail.

Todd Lewis, 43, was sentenced at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on September 8 after pleading guilty to multiple charges including possessing and trafficking drugs and negligently dealing with proceeds of crime.

The court heard police searched Lewis’ property in Kilcunda on September 1 this year and found $100 and a mobile phone with multiple messages referring to trafficking methamphetamine.

Police also found a plastic bag containing six magic mushroom pills and three zip lock bags containing 26g of methamphetamine, 1g of methamphetamine and magic mushroom powder.

All drugs were found in a hollow WD40 can.

Another 14g of methamphetamine, $490 in cash and a firework were uncovered on the property on May 6.

Lewis’ lawyer Pavithra Jayasekera said the man had only turned to drugs because his rendering business was crippled by the pandemic.

“Things have gone wrong in his life which led to him to trafficking to support his newly established drug addiction,” she said.

“The effects of Covid led to his work decreasing and him having to abandon running that business altogether.

“He first started using the ice as a way of processing things … it escalated into a much more serious situation.”

Ms Jayasekera said the man’s addiction was also fuelled by “bad influences”.

During his plea, Lewis said despite having Covid symptoms, he wasn’t tested before he was “chucked in a cell”.

“I feel like I’ve been given no rights,” he said.

Magistrate Jacinta Studham slammed the police prosecutor saying testing should have been arranged.

Lewis subsequently tested negative for Covid.

Magistrate Studham said trafficking methamphetamine in a regional community was a serious crime.

“The level of criminality that is arising from drug use within the regions is escalating,” Magistrate Studham said.

“People who are charged or plea guilty to trafficking drugs need to expect they will get immediate terms of imprisonment when they come before the court.”

Lewis was sentenced to two months in prison with a community corrections order for a period of 12 months.

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