Drug sale proceeds stolen in burglary

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 7

Drug sale proceeds stolen in burglary

A young man who was selling capsules of heroin and cannabis sticks for a profit of $2 each lost all the money he made when his room in a flat was burgled, Mr Justice Roper and a jury were told in the Supreme Court yesterday.

After deliberating for one hour and 20 minutes the jury found John Trevor Davis, aged 24, a truck-driver, guilty on two charges of selling heroin and cannabis to John Andrew Bums. His Honour remanded Davis in custody to October 27 for sentence. Mr N. W. Williamson appeared for the Crown, and Messrs P. H. B. Hall and D. J. Cassells for Davis who pleaded not guilty to both charges. The defence called no evidence.

Detective Sergeant John Joseph Chadderton who is in charge of the drug squad, said that as the result of information received he searched a flat occupied by John And-

rew Burns in Cashel Street and a van on March 5. He found two capsules of heroin and a stick of cannabis. On March 16 he executed a search warrant on a flat in Stoneyhurst Street. In a room occupied by Davis he found in a drawer a cigarette packet containing hypodermic needles and roaches and a roach clip which was used for smoking cannabis. He also found a notebook containing a number of entries. Davis’s name was on the cover.

Next day Davis was found at the railway siding in Addington and was taken to the C. 1.8. office. Davis admitted that the articles taken from his room were his and that he had got them from friends whom he refused to name. He admitted that the entries in the notebook related to drug purchases and sales.

In a written statement Davis said that about three weeks before he had purchased about 40 sticks of cannabis for $l2 each for his own use and to sell to some friends for $l4 each. About two months before he had purchased 40 capsules of smack (heroin).

"I got the caps to sell. I am not keen on hard gear but I have the odd hit. I have only hit up since I have had the hard gear. “I only got the smack because this other guy who had a market for them came to see me to see if I could get any for him. I saw that I could make two bucks a cap. I got them for $3O a cap and sold them to this other person for $32 each,” Davis said in the statement. Davis refused to name the persons from whom he got the drugs because they were friends but he admitted selling cannabis and heroin to John Burns and that he was not the only person he had sold drugs to. Dectective Sergeant Chadderton said that Davis had told him that he had lost on the deal because his flat had been burgled and the money stolen.

Mr Hall in his address to the jury said that no expert or scientific evidence had been called by the police that the substances sold by Davis to Burns were in fact heroin or cannabis.