Matt Christophers: Mildura man says drug haul was for ‘personal use’

A Mildura drug dealer caught with more than 10 times the trafficable quantity of meth said it was for personal use.

A Mildura man who pleaded guilty to trafficking sought to explain transfers into his bank account.

A Mildura drug dealer caught with more than 10 times the trafficable quantity of meth claimed it was for his personal use, a court has heard.

Police also said $30,000 was transferred to him from his network of drug users — but the man claimed it was for a car and spa he had sold.

Matt Peter Christophers, 39, pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine, dealing with proceeds suspected of being proceeds of crime and failing an oral fluid test on Tuesday at Mildura Magistrates’ Court.

Police found methylamphetamine in zip lock bags with a total weight of 35.46g when they stopped Christophers car in Mildura on April 21.

Other unused clear zip lock bags, digital scales and $1375 cash were also found.

The value of the drugs was estimated to be between $12,000 and $13,000.

Police said an oral fluid test indicated Christophers had methylamphetamine in his system while driving.

The court was told a housemate provided a statement saying he had bought drugs from Christophers.

Police said $6508 had been transferred to Christophers by the housemate and a further $32,000 had been sent to his account “from people known to be users and traffickers”.

Christophers’ lawyer said there were a number of shared bills between the housemates.

The lawyer said there were explanations for the other transfers, including the sale of an Audi motor vehicle and a five-seater spa.

Christophers had initially sought to argue the drugs were for personal use.

The lawyer said Christophers used methylamphetamine to get off strong opioids after a serious back injury in 2013, which left him unable to work.

Christophers had spent 62 days in pre-sentence detention, which the lawyer said had weighed heavily on him because he wasn’t getting access to the same services he had in the community.

Magistrate Michael Coghlan said Christophers was found with 10 times the trafficable quantity of methylamphetamine.

Mr Coghlan said the courts had tried to help Christophers in 2017 and this time a term of imprisonment was warranted.

Christophers was sentenced to four months in prison, including time already served, and he was disqualified from driving for six months.

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