Having his lost bag handed in to the police was not such a happy occasion for a North Otago shearer, when his drugs were found inside, the Oamaru District Court heard yesterday.
Melvin Norman Dobbs (61), of Fuchsia Creek, had previously admitted charges of cultivating cannabis, and possession of methamphetamine, cannabis, and drug utensils (a meth pipe).
On April 8, this year, a member of the public found the defendant’s leather motorbike saddlebag and handed it in to the police. His wallet was inside, allowing the police to track him down.
Also inside the bag were six plastic ziplock bags containing 5.69g of meth, a glasses case with a further 1.2g of meth inside, socks holding 27g of cannabis, a meth pipe and straws.
Police then carried out a search warrant at the defendant’s home, and found a further 198g of cannabis leaf, and 12 bushes growing behind a woolshed.
Dobbs told the police the drugs were for his personal use.
Defence counsel Katherine Henry said her client’s reason for lapsing into drug-use was "multifaceted". His marriage had broken up and his best friend had died suddenly. He had also suffered a significant knee injury.
Dobbs’ main form of recreation had been hunting, he had lost his firearms and his firearms licence, and it was unlikely he would get them back, Mrs Henry said.
She submitted her client had already suffered "significant punishment" for his offending.
He was attending regular therapy appointments, and there had been no further offending since April.
Judge Emma Smith said she was "not so sure" that amount of drugs was solely for personal use, but for the purposes of sentencing, she accepted that was the case.
She called the offending a "spectacular fall from grace" which occurred at an "unfortunate period of time" in his life.
Judge Smith was impressed the defendant was embarrassed about his offending.
She said the cultivation charge was the most serious, and as community work was not available due to his injury, community detention was appropriate.
For cultivation of cannabis, Dobbs was convicted and sentenced to 9 months’ supervision. He was also sentenced to four months’ community detention, with a curfew of 8pm to 7am.
On the other three charges, he was sentenced to a concurrent term of 9 months’ supervision.
