MAGISTRATES COURT Six months imprisonment for cultivating cannabis

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 12

MAGISTRATES COURT Six months imprisonment for cultivating cannabis

Unless a firm view was taken, there was a danger that there would be wider acceptance that the growing of cannabis was not viewed seriously by the Court, said Mr E. S. J. Crutchley, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The Magistrate sentenced Christopher Robert Dean, aged 23, unemployed (Mr D. J. Hewitt), to six months imprisonment on a charge of cultivating cannabis, a prohibited plant. The Magistrate said he would recommend that Dean be deported to Australia. Mr Hewitt said that Dean had left Australia to try to break away from association with hard drugs, because he realised the danger. He was growing the cannabis plants so that he could use cannabis to help him get over the difficulties with hard drugs. The Magistrate said that it may have been true that Dean intended to grow the cannabis for his own medication, but it was equally true that it was illegal to do so. Dean, having had experience with drugs before, was aware that it was against the law. There were legal avenues open for rehabilitation from hard drugs, the Magistrate said. The legislature regarded the offence as serious because the maximum penalty was 14 years imprisonment. There was no suggestion that Dean was growing the cannabis for the purpose of selling it. For that reason he was not bound to impose a prison sentence. But the Court was concerned about ensuring the deterrent aspect of the sentence, the Magistrate said..

TWELVE CHARGES Henry Roger Earle, aged 18, unemployed (Mr D. H. P.- Dawson), pleaded guilty to seven charges of burglary and four of unlawfully taking cars. He was convicted on each charge and remanded in custody to December 7 for a probation report, and a medical report with a view to a sentence at the detention centre. On a charge of failing to report to his probation officer, he was remanded without plea to December 7. Sergeant R. S. Morgan said that on November 10 Earle and another youth were disturbed by a parishioner in the vestry of St Michael’s Church in Lichfield Street. When questioned by .the police, Earle said that he and his companion had intended to take money from the collection box.

On November 22, Earle converted a car and burgled the Lake Lyndon mobile hamburger bar. When apprehended, he admitted unlawfully taking cars three times between July 25 and

November 20, and to burgling four houses in Christchurch between September 28 and November 19, said Sergeant Morgan. Restitution of $266 was sought. ASSAULT CHARGES Alan John Robinson and Robert Jaycocke, both 24-year-old heating engineers (Mr J. G. Leggat), pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting Gerard Hubert Broeren on November 26. Robinson also pleaded guilty! to a charge of wilfully damaging! a tea trolley. On the charges of I assault, the defendants were i each convicted and fined $lOO, | $25 of which in each case is to: go to the complainant. Robinson* was convicted on the wilful dam-i age charge and ordered to pay $5 restitution.

Sergeant Morgan said the two; defendants were in a restaurant at 10.40 p.m. on November 26, sitting at a table. When the restaurant owner roused Jaycocke from sleep, the defendants struck him. Robinson hurled a tea trolley at Mr Broeren, causing bruising to the upper parts of his body Both defendants had been drinking, but were not drunk, said Sergeant Morgan.

FIREARMS OFFENCE A man who is now a committed patient at a mental hospital was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within 18 months, and to forfeit his rifle, when he pleaded guilty to being unlawfully* in possession of a .22 rifle at Wood* end on May 22 last. Sergeant Morgan said the armed offenders squad was called to a house at Woodend at 11.30 a.m. where the defendant was in a room with a loaded rifle threatening to commit suicide. At 3 p.m. he came out without the rifle, saying that he did not know what he would have done if somebody had entered the house. DRIVING OFFENCES Toha Mauheni, aged 21, a workman (Mr C. C. H. Knight), was remanded on bail to December 7 when he pleaded guilty to charges of driving while disqualified, driving with an excessive alcohol concentration, driving dangerously, unlawfully taking a car. and theft of

$6O. Sergeant Morgan said a car was unlawfully taken by Mauheni on November 10 after he had taken the keys from the owner’s room. He also took $6O in cash from the room. Traffic Officer D. Bartlett said the defendant drove in Worcester Street without headlights. Tn Manchester Street he drove on the incorrect side of the road and when stopped could not stand up without support. He admitted consuming a large amount of liquor—and a blood test showed a concentration of «17 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. BURGLARY Michael John Collins, aged 17, an unemployed factory workman (Mr D. H. P. Dawson), pleaded guilty to a charge of burgling a butchery at Carterton on November 2. He was convicted and released on probation for 18 months, with the special condition that he work and live where directed, and pay restitution of $228.23.

Sergeant Morgan said that Collins took a transistor radio, an

electric shaver and cash when he burgled the butchery. Only! the radio had been recovered. | Collins had given himself up to; the Christchurch police. FALSE PRETENCES I Brian Edward Sales, aged 27,1 a driver (Mr C. C. H. Knight), appeared for sentence on eight' charges of false pretences and two of obtaining credit by fraud.! He was sentenced to 12 months; iat the periodic work centre to 'be followed by 12 months probation. A special condition is that Ihe take psychiatric or medical i treatment as directed. The I question of restitution was ireserved. ASSAULTED WIFE Carolus Gerardus Antbnius Jacobs, aged 40, a motor : mechanic, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Shirley Margaret Jacobs on November 29. He was convicted and remanded on bail to December 7 for a probation report and sentence. He was also ordered to undergo a medical examination with a view to periodic detention. Sergeant Morgan said the assault arose from a domestic dispute. On arriving home for lunch at 12.10 p.m. on November 29 Jacobs accused his wife of telling stories about him. He threw a kitchen chair and a jar at her. He returned to work, but when he came home after work again assaulted his wife, Sergeant Morgan said. DROVE WHILE DISQUALIFIED <f The prison door is almost wide open for you just now,” the Magistrate told a defendant appearing for sentence on a charge of driving while disqualified. Frederick Arthur Te Moana Rogan, aged 23, unemployed (Mr R. F. B. Perry), was sentenced to periodic detention for one year and disqualified from driving for one year. Mr Perry said it was Rogans third conviction for driving while disqualified, the most recent offence being a month

ago. The offence was committed at Burnham Military Camp, where Rogan thought the disqualification, did not apply, as there was a restricted right of entry. The Magistrate said it was with very, very considerable hesitation ' that he sentenced Rogan to periodic detention and not imprisonment. SOCIAL SECURITY

OFFENCE Bruce Maxwell Flack, aged 25, a welder (Mr A. K. Grant), was released on probation for 18 months and ordered to pay restitution of $357.50 when he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the Social Security Department to obtain a benefit Sergeant Morgan said the defendant was paid at the married rate when he was boarding with a woman who was in receipt of two benefits and also working. REFUSED BLOOD SPECIMEN James Edmond Reiha, aged 29, a concrete contractor (Mr E. T. Higgins), vtas convicted and fined $lOO and disqualified for one year when he pleaded guilty to refusing to give a blood specimen on. November 22. $5O FINE FOR THEFT . . Derek John Black, aged 20, a toolmaker (Mr E. T. Higgins), was fined $5O when sentenced on a charge of theft of property worth $l5. Mr Higgins said the offence

was committed before Black ceased employment with the complainant company, where the Items were taken. These included four files, 24 oilstones, and a lathe-turning tool. ‘‘This theft was a very miserable kind of offence,” the Magistrate told Black. SHOPLIFTING Lorraine Joy Kent, aged 19, a machinist (Mr E. T. Higgins), was convicted and fined 320 when she pleaded guilty to two charges of theft from Ingolds, Ltd, and Woolworths (New Zealand), Ltd, on October 13. Sergeant Morgan said a pair of briefs valued at 99c and soap and other items valued at 32.17 were taken from the shops after being placed in a bag. Mr Higgins said the defendant, who had no previous conviction, had enough money to pay for the items. He asked for suppression of ua>ne. which was declined by the Magistrate. INCIDENT ON TRAIN Peter Nolan Anderson, aged 19, a fish splitter (Mr J. E. Butler), pleaded guilty to a charge of Indecent assault on a girl aged 15, and was convicted and remanded on bail to December 7 for sentence. Sergeant Morgan said the girl was indecently assaulted on the Christchurch-Lyttelton train while returning home after school. The defendant had acknowledged his responsibility fa the matter but had said he could not remember the incident because he had been too drunk. OBSCENE LANGUAGE Peter Malcolm Wendt, aged 19, a builder’s labourer, was convicted and fined $7O when he pleaded guilty to two charges of using obscene language on November 29. Sergeant Morgan said that Wendt on tbe first occasion used the language in the presence of children and a -woman. The language was directed at two policemen. Wendt had been drinking but was not drunk.

DOG ATTACKED BOY Marion Kingi, a housewife, was convicted and fined $lO and ordered to keep her Labrador dog under proper control when she pleaded guilty to being the owner of a dog which attacked Brian Anderson on October 23. Sergeant Morgan said the dog bit a newspaper boy on the arm when he was delivering papers in Walcot Street, Bromley. The boy was treated at hospital and discharged. (Before Mr J. D. Kinder, S.M.) DANGEROUS DRIVING On a charge of dangerous driving on August 3, Lindsay John Jackson, aged 21, a mechanic (Mr M. J. Glue), who pleaded not guilty, was convicted and fined $5O and disqualified from driving for six months from December 28. Jackson was granted a partial exemption to allow him to drive certain vehicles in the course of his employment. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge against Bryan John O’Hehir, aged 24, an electrician (Mr S. R. Maling), of driving at a speed which was dangerous on May 26 wa sdlsmissed, O’Hehir having pleaded not guilty. The Magistrate • upheld-- MJ Maling’s submission at the conclusion of the prosecution case, brought by the Ministry of Transport, that no evidence of danger to any person had been