A woman who got caught up in a toxic relationship, and became addicted to drugs has been given a chance to turn her life around.
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Fiona Jane Hodgetts fronted the Launceston Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon, facing a myriad of drug, firearms, and driving-related charges.
The court heard the 34-year-old woman had committed 48 offences in a 16-month period from December 2019 to March this year.
She was caught driving with drugs in her system five times, found in possession of drugs including cannabis, methamphetamine, and dextroamphetamine six times, breached her court-ordered curfew six times, and breached bail when she failed to appear in court.
Hodgetts was also charged with unlawful possession of property over thousands of dollars of items found in a storage unit, and for possession of firearms without a licence, and possession of stolen firearms.
Some of the firearms included rifles, shotguns, and a shortened firearm, as well as ammunition for those firearms.
On one single occasion she was found with 10 different firearms, and on another, police found seven rifles, a pistol and a homemade gun.
She pleaded guilty to every charge.
While the crimes she committed were considered "very serious", Magistrate Ken Stanton said Hodgetts had a relatively clean record prior to the string of offences.
He said her case was evidence drugs continued to be a "grave social evil".
"You are as much a victim of it as you are a perpetrator," he said.
"You were acting under the devastating impact of your former partner. Nonetheless you participated and you must accept responsibility for your part.
"You have a surprisingly limited record in prior offending. Often offenders who offend in this way are hardened offenders."
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An emotional Hodgetts wiped tears from her eyes as Mr Stanton gave her advice during the sentencing.
"I am a magistrate, I am not a counsellor, but one of the very important things for you will be to cut off any association with others who use drugs," he told her.
"You are not a person who has in the past committed these types of offences, and it need not be your future."
She was convicted on all counts, and sentenced to 24 weeks behind bars, having already served just over 10 weeks in custody.
The remaining 13 weeks and one day was suspended for 18 months from the date of her release, and she was remanded in custody on other matters pending in the Launceston Supreme Court.
A community corrections order was also put in place, and Hodgetts was disqualified from driving for 30 months, and ordered to pay court costs.
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