Drug possession counts

Press, 11 June 1982, Page 5

Drug possession counts

A man in whose car two plastic rubbish bags containing a total of 1.85 kg of cannabis plant was found was convicted of charges of possession of the drug for sale or supply, and permitting his car to be used for the commission of an offence against the Misuse of Drugs Act The defendant, Craig Reginald Hamilton, aged 21, a kitchen hand (Mr R. A. Campbell) denied these offences and charges of theft of the cannabis or alternatively receiving the drug, knowing it to have been stolen. Judge Bisphan dismissed the ■ theft and receiving charges at the completion of the prosecution case. He remanded, the defendant on bail to June 24 for sentence on the other two. charges.

Sergeant W. J. McCormick prosecuted. Evidence in the case was that police stopped a car being driven by the defendant. with three passengers, at 1 a.m. on November 26. A bulky rubbish bag containing plants was found under the front seat, and a. similar bag in the car boot. The defendant said that the material was for personal use, but made no comments to questions about possession of it and its source. The defendant gave -evidence that he drove the others to the address of parents of one of’them, who wanted to get some money to go to a hamburger bar. After calling there this passenger asked him to drive to a friend's place and the defend-

ant stopped where told to, while two passengers went away. They returned later from a house, carrying the rubbish bags.. He did not know what they contained, and did not ask. The Judge said the defendant’s story was implausible. He said that implicit in the defendant’s comment to police that the material was for personal use was that he knew what was in the bags. The defendant’s car was being used to transport the drug, and there was sufficient evidence to establish that he had control or custody over the cannabis. The amount of cannabis involved was very substan-' tial, and the defendant had not discharged the onus, on him to dispel the presumption that it was for sale or supply to others.