Remands in drug case

Press, 15 October 1982, Page 1

Remands in drug case

NZPA Tweed Heads

A man and a woman were remanded for sentence in Tweed Heads Court in far northern New South Wales yesterday after pleading guilty to charges of supplying heroin to a young woman now in a coma in a Brisbane hospital. The woman, Jeanne Gunning, aged 24, a model, of Tweed Heads, has been in a coma since August last year after attending a party on the Gold Coast. •

Her parents, Dorothy and Harold Gunning, are continuing a campaign to have the New Zealand Government allow their daughter to join them in Christchurch.

In court yesterday, a dress designer, Jeannette Nerelle Marshall, aged 27, of Coolangatta, and a plumber. Allan Jeffrey Cassin, aged 32, of West Tweed Heads, pleaded guilty to a charge of supplying heroin in August last year. Marshall was also charged with possessing heroin, possessing property believed to be stolen, and living off the earnings of prostitution. Cassin faced additional charges of possessing and supplying heroin. Defence counsel, , Mr Robert Brewer for Cassin and Mr Michael Coleman for Marshall, conferred privately for more than two hours and then with the prosecutor, Sergeant Desmond Milne, before the case went before the Court.

The Magistrate, Mr Ross Rice, was told that both Marshall and Cassin would

plead guilty to one charge of supplying heroin. Sergeant Milne told the Court that Cassin had eight previous convictions for drug : related offences and had twice been sentenced to jail. He said that Marshall had four previous convictions for drug offences and two for living off the earnings of prostitution. In a statement handed to the Magistrate, Detective Sergeant Robert Jackson, of Murwillumbah, said he had been involved in the investigation since Jeanne Gunning was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital in a coma. He said he had been told she had been at a party at Tugun, near Coolangatta, on the other side of the border in Queensland, and had been found in a lavatory at 3 a.m. apparently having an epileptic fit. He said Cassin had admitted being at the party and finding Miss Gunning in the lavatory. Detective Sergeant Jackson said Marshall had admitted supplying a small amount of heroin to Cassin. The Magistrate remanded the two accused for reports and continued their bail and reporting conditions. He said the other charges against them would be heard at their next appearances. Cassin, who will appear on November 17, is on $7500 bail. Marshall’s bail was set at $5OOO. She is due to appear on October 28. Miss Gunning is in Brisbane’s Mount Olivet Hospital.