Jason Cooper, 25, pleaded guilty in Warrnambool Magistrates Court to trafficking cannabis and crystal methamphetamine, possessing cannabis and prescription medication and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Magistrate John Lesser decided to order the mental health assessment after solicitor Matt Senia raised issues in a plea hearing.

Mr Lesser also requested a community corrections assessment be conducted and said he was considering a sentence involving a community order and some form of imprisonment.

Police alleged that in early October last year, Cooper started trafficking cannabis. He had then started selling ice during mid-January.

Police executed a search warrant at Cooper’s Crawley Street home on May 15.

They found cannabis, two mobile phones, three sets of scales, ammunition, laser sights, prescription medication, a glass smoking pipe, crossbow and $800 in cash.

One of the phones contained extensive material relating to drug trafficking. 

He told police he was owed $300, that he regularly bought one gram of ice for $600 and sold it for $80 a point and a gram of cannabis for $20.

Defence counsel Matt Senia said Cooper’s drug trafficking was not toward the higher end of the scale and he sold to a smaller number of people.

In a sentencing submission police prosecutor Sergeant Sandra Skilton said the community demanded that people who sold ice serve an immediate term of imprisonment and even a psychologist suggested Cooper needed a secure environment to detoxify.