Trafficker had loaded .22 pistol and $36k worth of ice when police raided

Mathew Leigh Coates, 35, pleaded guilty to a count of trafficking in ice between September 12 and September 15, 2022.

The court heard that Coates had been a recipient of drug treatment orders in 2015 and 2020 which allowed him to avoid jail.

Crown prosecutor Amit Sharma said police searched Coates' premises on September 15 and found the accused underneath the house in Chung Gon crescent.

They found $12,000 cash, a .22 pistol with a magazine containing eight rounds and other .22 bullets in a plastic bottle.

Police found a total of 36.5 grams of ice in varying amounts spread around the house including behind a power point. There was also a stolen motor cycle.

His mobile phone was seized and messages indicated drug sales.

In an interview with police Coates said he had made sales worth $7000 over the past three days and had sold $15,000 worth in the past two months.

Mr Sharma said prosecution did not accept a statement that he had only had the firearm for a week.

He made an application that the $12,000 be forfeited and that a special penalty of $3000 be applied.

The court heard that Coates had previously received drug treatment orders in 2015 and in 2020 but both had been cancelled for failing to abide by the conditions.

A drug treatment order allows a recipient to avoid jail as long as they stop using drugs and commit no new offences.

Mr Sharma said Coates the offences were committed while Coates was on bail.

Defence counsel Fran McCracken Coates trafficking operation was aimed at funding his own drug habit which cost up to $1000 a day and to relieve financial stress resulting from loss of employment.

She asked Justice Robert Pearce to consider ordering an assessment for a drug treatment order despite two previous attempts including in 2020 where he failed a urine test and received a three month suspended jail sentence for perverting justice.

"He needs to be able to abstain and make that last," she said.

"He has not had the staying power."

The court heard that Coates is due for sentence on December 13 in the magistrates court after pleading guilty to driving, drugs and firearms offences committed on September 21.

He was refused bail and has been in custody since.

Justice Pearce adjourned sentencing until December 12 while he thought about whether to order the assessment.