Marijuana Charge Against Youth Dismissed

Press, Volume C, Issue 29477, 1 April 1961, Page 4

Marijuana Charge Against Youth Dismissed

“The accused allowed his imagination to run riot and was playing a game of private detective,” said Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court on Thursday when he dismissed a charge against John Henry Blackaby, aged 19, of attempting to obtain possession of a dangerous drug, marijuana, from an American serviceman at the Christchurch airport on January 25. Blackaby, a clerk employed by the Justice Department, pleaded not guilty. He was represented by Mr B. McClelland. The police prosecutor was Senior-Sergeant G. M. Cleary. Wayne Noel Dinucci, an American serviceman at present serving a prison sentence of six months for selling a dangerous drug, said that he received at the American base at Harewood on January 25 two anonymous telephone calls. On the firsi occasion the person asked him if he could get for him some marijuana cigarettes, said Dinucci. He replied that he could not, and after putting the receiver down consulted his superiors. Meeting Arranged When the person rang him later the same day he .told Dinucci that the police were going to trap him into giving all the evidence concerning the sale of drugged cigarettes by using the code word "dogblock." He then told the caller that he could sell him some marijuana cigarettes, and a meeting place was arranged. “About 10.30 p.m. that day I was standing at the northern end of an old swimming pool at Harewood when a person approached me and gave me some sort of code word,” said Dinucci. “I then gave him four cigarettes, which I had rolled from stubs taken from ash trays at the base, but I threw him to the

ground and held him until Detective-Sergeant W. E. Hollinshead and Detective-Con-stable D. C. Lee, who had been hiding nearby, came along.”

Detective-Sergeant Hollinshead said he had been in charge of inquiries into the selling of drugged cigarettes in Christchurch. He said he agreed to the setting of the trap at Harewood, and when he ran up to Blackaby, who was being held on the ground by Dinucci, the accused exclaimed: “It’s me Detective Hollinshead.” He knew Blackaby from his working at the Justice Department. A statement made by Blackaby Immediately after the incident at Harewood was then read to the Court In the statement the accused 'said that a week before his ringing up Dinucci he was returning from the airport when he picked up two Americans in plain clothes and gave them a lift into town. During the drive they talked in low tones, and he heard Dinucci’s name mentioned. Later the same week, as part of his job in the Justice Department, he .read a summons that was' being issued against Dinucci on a charge of selling dangerous drugs. He then got in touch with Dinucci in thk hope of getting some evidence against Americans for selling dangerous drugs. He said he did not go to the police beforehand as he did not wish to make himself look a fool, but when he obtained some proof of drugged cigarettes being sold he intended to go straight to the police. He denied to Senior-Ser-geant Cleary that he was intending to smoke the cigarettes himself or sell them. Court’s View Blackaby was in a position of trust in the Justice Department and any information which came into his possession should be treated as strictly confidential, the Magistrate said. The essence of the matter was one of mens rea, and the Court had to be satisfied that a person was knowingly in possession of the drug for an illegal purpose. In this case the accused was alleged to have attempted to obtain possession of the drug. “Before a conviction is entered the Court must be satisfied that the offence has been proved beyond reasonable doubt If there is any doubt the accused is entitled to it" said the Magistrate. Blackaby very promptly informed the police as to his purpose. He had been in possession of information that was not available to other persons because of his work, and should have been more careful. “I am not satisfied Blackaby intended to get the drug for an illegal purpose. I believe he embarked on some private detective work in the mistaken belief that he was helping the police.” the Magistrate said when dismissing the charge.