Doctor charged with procuring drugs

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 4

Doctor charged with procuring drugs

A Christchurch doctor has been charged with procuring prescription poisons without reasonable excuse, on 21* occasions since May 11)75.

The prescriptions were for a total of 3318 tablets of diethylpropion, 2850 tablets of cyclopenthiazide, 484 tablets of nitrazepam, 348 tablets of phenylbutazone and 120 tablets of phentermine. In the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, the doctor, who is in his early fifties, was remanded for psychiatric assessment at Sunnyside Hospital to August 4 by Mr H. J. Evans, S.M. He was represented by Mr P. H. B. Hall.

The doctor was admitted to Sunnyside Hospital on June 23. No plea has been entered. Mr Hall said he could not consent to this further remand as he had not seen his client and had no instructions from him. But the Magistrate said he would remand the defendant to hospital for a further month’s assessment at the request of his Sunnyside doctor. LIQUOR STORE BURGLED A liquor store and a business premises, both housed in the same building, were burgled on June 20, and a hole had been cut in the floor of one of the premises to gain access to the other, the Court heard. A total of $2599.40 worth of liquor had been taken and none of it had been recovered.

When the police had searched a house in Abberley Crescent in respect of the burglary, they had found some of the stolen property, as well as 208 cannabis seeds and 1.4 g of cannabis. David Lewis Howard, aged 21, a painter, was convicted on two charges of burglary, one charge of possessing cannabis, and one charge of unlawfully possessing cannabis seeds for the purpose of cultivation. He was remanded in custody for medical examination, reports and sentence to July 19. BURGLED WINE SHOP A man’s craving for alcohol led him to smash the front window of a wine shop, his counsel (Mr A. K. Grant) told the Court yesterday.

Mr Grant was appearing on behalf of William HenryButcher, aged 59, a sickness beneficiary, who pleaded guilty to the burglary of the Wine Out Cellars, in Oxford Terrace, on June 30. Detective Sergeant J. G. Crookston told the Court that about 4 a.m. on June 30 the defendant threw a brick through the front window of the premises. A neighbour heard the noise and called the police. When the police arrived the defendant was found inside the building holding two flagons of sherry. He told the police that he was cold and wanted something to drink, Detective Sergeant Crookston said.

Mr Grant said the man had had an alcohol problem for a considerable time. The Magistrate convicted him and ordered him to appear for sentence if called upon, and placed him in the care of the Salvation Army under Section 9 of the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Act. THEFT AS SERVANT A 17-year-old youth who had been promoted, against his own wishes, to a position where he was responsible for large sums of money, was convicted on a charge of theft as a servant.

The youth whose name was suppressed, pleaded guilty to stealing $350.40 from his employer, the Government Life Insurance Office. He was sentenced to 12 months probation. Detective Sergeant Crookston said that 10 sums of money went missing from the insurance office between May and June. When the defendant was questioned he admitted stealing the money. He had hidden the theft by destroying the office copy of receipts that were issued and retaining the sums of money himself. Counsel (Mr R. G. McKenzie) said the defendant had been promoted to assistant cashier after only six months employment. He had not wanted to take a job which involved handling large sums of money. Mr McKenzie said the defendant had deposited most of the money in his savings account. He had made compensation of the full amount

and had resigned from his job. (Before Mr W. F. Brown, S.M.) CANNABIS IN PRISON A 28-year-old prison inmate of Paparoa Prison has been charged with possessing cannabis on June 27. He was remanded without plea to July 14.