Car had cannabis in boot

Press, 12 October 1988, Page 32

Car had cannabis in boot

A rental car stopped at a drug-squad road-block was found to have $40,000 worth of cannabis in the boot, Mr Justice Williamson was told in the High Court yesterday. A woman in the back of the court sobbed loudly when Robert Malcolm Haines, aged 30, a selfemployed cleaner, was jailed for two years. Haines had pleaded guilty in the District Court at Blenheim to a charge of possession of cannabis for sale or supply. At 3 p.m. on September 12, a C. 1.8. patrol stopped a rental car, driven by Haines, at Seddon, the police summary said.

The boot was searched and two carry-bags filled with 20 one-pound (454 g plastic bags of cannabis were found. Haines admitted knowing that the bags contained cannabis, but said that these did not belong to him. He had been paid $5OO to act as a courier by taking the drug to Blenheim and then returning to Christchurch. He was co-operative, but refused to say who he was doing the job for, because he feared retribution against himself and his family, the police statement said. Mr Nigel Hampton, for

Haines, said that some 11 years ago when his client was only 19 he had been convicted of offences involving small amounts of cannabis, which were shared among his flatmates. Regrettably, that period of his life had come back to haunt him. Some of those he had associated with had prevailed on him to act as a courier. After successfully struggling against adversity, he and his wife had established a cleaning business, which was reasonably successful for a time. Then, with the downturn in the economy which resulted in cutbacks in cleaning costs

and increased competition from the unemployed who took on cleaning, the business struck hard times. Against that background Haines foolishly accepted the job of taking cannabis to Blenheim. He was not a dealer and realised the stupidity of his actions. Haines suffered from a painful back condition. He was a hard worker, and a caring husband and father to his two young children, Mr Hampton said. Mr Raoul Neave, for the Crown, said that the amount of cannabis was substantial and was estimated to have a value of about $40,000. Haines was not pre-

pared to supply the names of those for whom he was working. This was a commercial operation and required a substantial prison term. Mr Justice Williamson said that the charge carried a maximum prison term of seven years. The use of cannabis and alcohol was responsible for many offences of violence and aggravated robbery. In 1977, Haines was sentenced to four-months periodic detention on four charges of selling cannabis. It was accepted that he had played a secondary role in this offence, his Honour said.