An Invercargill woman "dodged a bullet" because of poor police evidence, a court heard yesterday.
Svensson was facing 15 charges of offering to supply methamphetamine between September 14 and November 24, 2020.
Police evidence produced during the trial alleged social-media messages between Svensson and another woman proved Svensson was offering to supply the drugs.
During the trial, defence counsel Hugo Young had pressed police regarding the proven identity of the person who had set up the social-media account and who was communicating to the other woman.
The pair had an online conversation during which they exchanged photos of themselves.
While police had presented photographic evidence of a selfie believed to be Svensson, the photo featured a filter over the subject’s face and had been cropped by a police officer.
The photo had been cropped because police had initially focused their investigation on the other woman, Judge Walker said.
"It’s surprising to say the least that the full picture of the person who was the other person (Svensson) does not appear."
Yesterday in delivering his decision, Judge Russell Walker said while it was "highly probable" Svensson was the woman in the photo, because of evidence deficiencies, he could not be sure.
He dismissed the charges.
"You have somewhat dodged a bullet," he said.
