Professional man to face drug charges

Press, 24 February 1977, Page 8

Professional man to face drug charges

A police search of a 43-' year .Id professional man’s house and car revealed about 65g of cannabis and hashish, the Magistrate’s Court in Christchurch was ‘old yesterday. The man, whose name and occupation were suppressed bv Messrs G. A. Brown and D. H. Emslie. Justices of the Peace, was committed for trial to the Supreme Court) after the taking of depositions yesterday. Five witnesses were called and. at the end of the hearing, the man pleaded not guiitv to the charges of possessing cannabis for the purpose of suoply and possessing cannabis. Further changes against the man have been remanded to April, pending the outcome of the Supreme Court trial. Thev are possessing cannabis seeds, resisting arrest, and obstructing a noliceman. Mr B. McClelland. Q.C..| and Mr J. A. Forbes appeared for the man. and Sergeant D. Gibson for the prosecution. Detective Darryl Brian i Clearwater said that at 11.10 p.m. on December 4 he' •nd other detectives went toi an address in Montreal Street! with a search warrant. There! were about five people in the, house, including the defendant. When searched, the defen-1 dant objected strongly, and

-'demanded to go to the police, ; . station. It was explained that I, he must be searched there) l and then, but when Detective ; s|Clearwater attempted, to do s so, the defendant became • violent, kicking out and I • struggling on the floor. f) Detective John Francis 5 Oaklev, who searched the : defendant’s Holden car. ’ | which had been parked out- ■ j side the propertv. said that in ') the boot he found a leather has containing four reefer II cigarettes inside a silver cigarette case hearing *he t 1 man’s initials, and various - parcels of cannahis. tobacco -land mixtures of both. A -i bottle containing 20 cannabis i seeds was also in the bag, as J i well as Indian coins. >1 Some of the cannabis in ; the bag was wrapped in a J foreign newspaper, written in :; Hindustani. Detective Cleari; water said. He had also taken ■ possession of the defendant’s .passport, which was in the i i glovebox of the car. When interviewed, the de- ! fendant had said he had been i overseas in connection with t'his job. and admitted that j’thev were his “samples” of ’ | cannabis. 11 Detective Sergeant Colin ;‘Thomas Dalzell said that at j)1.30 a.m. on December 5, ■1 after the accused had been arrested in Montreal Street •Ihe went with a search war--1 rant to the defendant’s home

nin another part of the city, : where he spoke to a woman, ) the defendant’s aunt, who ■also lived there. i He searched the defen- : dant’s bedroom, where there I was a large quantity of electronic gear and many bottles ; of tablets. ; He found a hold-all con- , taining several packets of cannabis, one of which was wrapped in a foreign news- ■ paper. cigarette papers. ■ “roaches,” and a block of ■ hashish. Pornographic books and 1 films were also in the bag, ' Sergeant Dalzell said. The accused had refused ’ to answer when asked whether he had imported the cannabis that was wrapped in a 1 foreign newspaper, and also 1 when asked whether the cannabis was for others. He had already said he did not smoke ) it himself. ) Dr Lewis Parnell, a scientist with the D.5.1.R., said he . examined the exhibits given to him by the police. Of the 20 or so parcels given to him, 11 contained a mixture of cannabis and I tobacco, and together weighed about 31.2 g; six contained pure cannabis and weighed about 31.8 g; and the hashish weighed about 26g In addition, there were cigarette papers and cannabis seeds.