Man changes drug plea

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 4

Man changes drug plea

A year’s imprisonment was imposed by Judge Paterson in the District Court yesterday on David John Dunning on a charge of having cannabis plant for sale or supply on June 28. The defendant, aged 22, a casual bakery worker, had pleaded guilty to the offence, before a scheduled trial by jury was to have taken place. Evidence at the preliminary hearing had been that the police found cannabis weighing 440 grams in a room of a flat occupied by the defendant, and a small quantity of cannabis was found in his pockets. A youth, aged 19, who was with the defendant in the flat and who had $299 in his pocket, said he had been invited by the defendant the evening before to call and have a drink. The defendant had not offered to sell him cannabis. The purpose of his visit had been for a social drink. The defendant told the

police he had paid $lOOO for the cannabis which the police found. He had purchased 17 ounces of cannabis and had not sold any of it. He was going to bag and sell some of it because he needed the money. Defence counsel (Mr A. N? D. Garrett), sought a sentence of non-residential periodic detention for the offence, rather than imprisonment He said the defendant had dissociated himself from companions who had been an influence in his offending. He had obtained further employment. Mr D. J. L. Saunders, for the Crown, submitted that the public interest took precedence over the defendant’s personal circumstances, and that a deterrent sentence was called for. the police had “nipped in the bud” a prospective sale of cannabis by the defendant to the youth at his flat, he said.