NAMED: Lockyer locals busted for cannabis in 2020

Some of these Lockyer Valley crims told the magistrate some interesting stories to try and defend themselves. See inside:

Generic marijuana weed cannabis. Copyright NCA.

THERE was no shortage of Lockyer Valley residents getting busted for cannabis possession, production and/or supplying in 2020.

The Gatton Star has compiled a list of some of those who were convicted in the Gatton Magistrates Court for weed this year.

Melissa Lynette Dixon pleaded guilty on November 16 to four offences including charges of unlawfully possessing cannabis, unlawfully possessing a water pipe used for smoking cannabis and committing a public nuisance offence.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor said that as police walked towards Dixon’s door on September 9, they smelled burning cannabis from within the house.

The court heard too that on a separate occasion Police were called to a traffic incident outside a day care centre on October 2, where Dixon’s vehicle had driven up onto the footpath.

Sergeant Windsor said Dixon was by her car and yelled at police as they approached her and said “f**k you, you f*****g dog c***s leave me alone”.

“This behaviour went on for some time” Sergeant Windsor said.

Represented by duty lawyer James Ryan, it was revealed that Dixon was nine weeks pregnant to her intellectually disabled partner, who she was a full time carer of.

Mr Ryan said his client had a longstanding issue with dangerous drugs, and said Dixon told him she used cannabis to counter her withdrawals from getting off ice.

Magistrate Graham Lee sentenced Dixon to forfeit a $600 recognisance referred to SPER.

Dixon was also given a $700 fine referred to SPER for the fresh drug matters, no conviction was recorded.

She was fined $250 referred to SPER for public nuisance, no conviction was recorded.

Cops fronted Nicholas Andrew Samojenko’s property on June 18 and noticed the shed was wide open.

Upon inspecting the shed, they found a room that had about 140 cannabis seeds.

Samojenko, 35, appeared in Gatton Magistrates Court on September 13, with four charges.

He had one count of possessing cannabis, one for possessing meth and one for possessing utensils.

Charges for possessing lights and a heater were dismissed when the prosecution offered no evidence.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor said a clip seal bag containing one gram of meth was also found at the property, plus a water pipe make out of a drink bottle.

He said police also found seven glass smoking pipes and digital scales.

Samojenko was convicted and fined $750, which was referred to SPER.

A conviction was recorded.

Debra Lee Wotton had her green leafy plants forfeited following a police raid.

Police searched Ms Wotton’s Laidley Heights home where she openly told them she had cannabis and three marijuana plants outside.

They found six clip seal bags containing 91 grams of cannabis in her bedroom as well as a manual grinder and metal smoking pipe.

Ms Wotton, 56, then took police outside to show them her three cannabis plants.

Police prosecutor senior constable Narelle Lowe told the Gatton Magistrates Court that Ms Wotton used the drugs to manage severe back pain and smoked on a nightly basis.

She appeared in court on Monday, September 28, for one charge of possessing utensils or pipes that had been used, one charge for possessing anything used in the commission of a crime and two charges for possessing a dangerous drug.

She pleaded guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Howard Osborne imposed one penalty for all offences.

Wotton was charged with a $500 good behaviour bond for six months, and told to attend the drug and alcohol assessment sessions.

No conviction was recorded.

Anne Marie Sheenan pleaded guilty on December 7 to producing a dangerous drug, possessing a dangerous drug, and possessing drug equipment.

In the bedroom police found a cigarette container, which smelled strongly of burned cannabis and paraphernalia used for smoking pot, police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor told the court.

Sheenan, 65, attended the Helidon Police station where she told officers she was in the process of making healing balms and oils, the court heard.

Sheenan was fined $800, referred to SPER, and a conviction was not recorded.

Ben Kevin Morrison’s flat was raided on November 5, and he was charged with four offences including possessing dangerous drugs, producing dangerous drugs, possessing utensils or pipes that had been used for drugs and possessing anything used in the commission of crime.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor said police located two healthy cannabis plants growing inside Morrison’s home in addition to a hydroponic set up including heat lamps and fans.

Pleading guilty, Morrison defended himself in court and told Magistrate Graham Lee he used cannabis to self-medicate and complained of having a sore back from his job at Pacific Seeds.

He told Mr Lee he was very unlikely to get off cannabis and said he was a supporter of Queensland’s 420 movement.

Magistrate Lee took into account Morrison’s strong history of drug offending and convicted and fined him $1400, referred to SPER.

The conviction was recorded.

Anthony Paul Johnston didn’t say much when he appeared in Gatton Magistrates Court on Monday, November 9 on multiple drug charges, but his partner who was sitting in the gallery wanted to.

“He was strip searched unwillingly,” Johnson’s partner tried to say from the courtroom gallery.

She was told to be quiet by the volunteer in policing official.

Johnston appeared for one charge of possessing utensils, one charge of drug driving, and one charge for possessing dangerous drugs.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor told the court that Johnson was intercepted on Rosewood-Laidley road at Grandchester on September 24.

He submitted to a roadside drug test, but was taken to the Laidley police station where he tested positive for THC.

Sergeant Windsor said on October 28, police searched Johnson’s Laidley South home, where they found numerous drug-related items.

Police found a green plastic bag containing cannabis, a bowl containing prepared cannabis, three glass water pipes, a plastic water pipe, a brass water pipe, electric grinder and electric scales.

Johnston was fined $350 and a conviction was recorded for his drug driving charge.

For his drug charges, he was fined $350 which was referred to SPER, and disqualified from driving for a month – conviction recorded.

For possessing drugs and equipment, he was fined $300 referred to SPER, no conviction recorded.

Andrew John Knaggs returned from work to discover police searching his house shortly after testing positive to drug driving.

Police prosecutor senior sergeant Al Windsor told the court Knaggs, 35, had been pulled over by police when he was driving on Forest Hill-Fernvale Road, Forest Hill, on June 23.

He was drug tested and the result confirmed he had marijuana in his system.

Two weeks later, police showed up at his door but found Knaggs wasn‘t home.

The court heard police searched the Kensington Grove home on July 10.

Searching the home, police found two potted marijuana plants growing in the backyard.

“The plants were about 30 centimetres in height and appeared healthy and well-tended,” Sergeant Windsor said.

Police also found clip seal bags containing 2.29 grams of marijuana in a bathroom, as well a further 1.43g, 0.767g, 0.34g throughout the house.

“4.37g cannabis seeds were found in a motorcycle helmet in the defendant‘s walk-in-wardrobe,” Sergeant Windsor said.

The court heard, only three weeks after the search, Knaggs was nabbed drug driving again.

“Police intercepted (Knaggs) driving on Brightview Road, Lockrose and he submitted to a roadside drug test,” Sergeant Windsor said.

The test returned a positive result, confirming Knaggs had marijuana in his system.

Knaggs pleaded guilty to eight charges and told Magistrate Peter Saggers the drug “keeps you sane”.

For the first drug driving offence, he was disqualified from driving for one month and fined $350.

For the second, he was disqualified from driving for three months and fined $450.

For the other charges, he was fined $1200.

All convictions were recorded.

Isaac Collins pleaded guilty to four charges on Monday November 30, including unlawfully producing cannabis, unlawfully possessing cannabis, possessing a water pipe and possessing lamps, fans and chemicals use for producing cannabis.

Collins tried to defend his actions, telling Magistrate Graham Lee he suffered from anxiety, depression, PTSD and had suicidal tendencies.

Collins represented himself in court and admitted to the magistrate that he was growing the marijuana plants for his personal use, highlighting his mental health issues.

“I thought instead of blowing hundreds of dollars buying it from someone else I would just grow it myself,” Collins said as he scoffed.

Collins was given a global fine of $1000.

No conviction was recorded.

A YOUNG driver told police the drugs found tucked behind the ashtray were “dads, not mine”.

According to his father, Peter John Brunton, 48, the 2.1 grams of cannabis had been there for a “long time”, he told police.

The cannabis was found during a search of Brunton’s car, which his son had been driving after attending court that morning.

Police prosecutor senior constable Narelle Lowe told the Gatton Magistrates Court that police pulled up Brunton’s vehicle at 2.30pm on August 31 at Laidley.

Senior constable Lowe said police questioned the driver if there were any drugs in the vehicle.

The driver said “this is my father’s vehicle; I only used the car today to get to court. I don’t know what is in the vehicle, hopefully he has not left any drugs in the car because I only just got put on 14-months’ probation for drug offences,” senior constable Lowe said.

Brunton, from Laidley, was questioned on September 1 and said he had accidentally left the drugs in the vehicle before letting his son borrow the car.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing dangerous drugs.

Brunton was convicted and fined $500, which was referred to SPER.

When police raided Jessica Dawn Nugent’s Gatton home, they found a grinder, glass bowl and water pipe on a small table next to her bed.

They also found 0.2g of cannabis in a glass bowl.

Nugent told the police she smoked the drug daily and that she had used all the utensils herself.

The 39-year-old mother-of-four pleaded guilty on September 21 to one charge of possessing a dangerous drug and one charge for possessing utensils or pipes that had been used.

Police prosecutor senior constable Narelle Lowe told the court police had searched the woman’s home on July 10 at 7.30am.

Her lawyer told the court that she used cannabis for pain relief and was a victim of severe domestic violence.

Nugent was convicted with one penalty for the two offences.

She was charged $700, which was referred to SPER.

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