Man jailed for year on cannabis charges

Press, 11 September 1985, Page 4

Man jailed for year on cannabis charges

Twelve months jail was the sentence imposed by Judge Fraser on a man in whose Avonhead home the police found 153 cannabis plants growing in a specially equipped concealed room. Appearing for sentence in the District Court yesterday was Louis James Comber, aged 54, a beneficiary (Mr A. M. B. Lee). Comber had earlier admitted charges of cultivating cannabis and possessing the drug for supply. Submissions by counsel for a community-based sentence were inappropriate and inadequate, said the Judge. When Comber initially pleaded, the police summary indicated that the concealed room had been specially constructed and fitted out with lighting equipment and an irrigation system estimated to have cost $4OOO. The total amount of cannabis seized at the house by detectives weighed four pounds, which when processed would be worth $6OOO.

Mr Lee said his client had built his home and that the so-called concealed room was intended to be an ensuite bathroom. The room had not been constructed with the intention of cultivating cannabis in it. Comber also denied spending anything like $4OOO on equipment which he had got second-hand. Growth of the cannabis was staggered in order to give the defendant a continued supply of the drug, Mr Lee said. SIX MONTHS JAIL Two men convicted of burgling six. Christchurch service stations on August 25 were each jailed for six months. They are Graham Franklin Joyce, aged 22, and Darrell Wayne Cavanagh, aged 18, both unemployed. Moana Rata Fisher, aged 19, also unemployed, was convicted of the same offences, and was ordered to 120 hours of community service, and was put on probation for 12 months. The nature and scale of the offending by the two male offenders was such that imprisonment was the only adequate and appropri-

ate sentence, said the Judge. Joyce and Cavanagh both had many previous convictions for burglary. Fisher had only one, unrelated, past conviction which could be disregarded, the Judge said. When apprehended in one service station the trio had property and cash valued at $2291 in their possession. Mr Grave said at the time of the offending the trio had no employment, no benefits, and were in “dire financial straits.” Community-based sentences were sought. PERIODIC DETENTION A man convicted of receiving $8492 worth of weapons, part of a smash-and-grab burglary was sentenced to periodic detention for four months. Alister Hemi Karaka, aged 29, unemployed, had acted out of misguided loyalty to a person who was the main offender, said counsel (Mr M. J. Knowles). Karaka had earlier been convicted of receiving 10 shotguns, three .22 calibre rifles, two imitation Samurai swords, a machete, and a rifle scope from Mark

Peter Rapana on July 31. The weapons were found at Karaka’s address the day after the Riccarton Road premises of Shooters’ Supplies, Ltd, was burgled and $14,000 worth of weapons was stolen. OBSTRUCTION OFFENCE A call at a house by a City Council noise inspector to check on a noisy stereo complaint resulted in Aaron David Buckeridge, aged 20, unemployed, appearing on a charge of obstructing the police in the execution of their duty. Buckeridge, who admitted the offence, was convicted and remanded on bail to September 24 for a probation report and sentence. Sergeant B. N. Thompson said that while at the house the inspector suffered obscene verbal abuse and threats of violence by four young men who had been drinking. The police were called and they also were subjected to more of the same. In making an arrest, a police sergeant was pushed away and a struggle ensued, said Sergeant Thompson. The defendant gave no explanation for his actions.