Cody Robert Clark: Warwick man fronts court over online marijuana order

An attempt to use the postal service to sneak a sizeable drug order past the authorities ended in a date with the magistrate for a Warwick man, after his parcel’s strong odour tipped off post office workers and cops.

A Warwick man’s sneaky attempt to order a hefty stash of marijuana online landed him in court after both post office employees and police were able to sniff out the dodgy package.

A parcel addressed to Cody Robert Clark was delivered to the Warwick post office on June 8, with its strong smell of marijuana immediately tipping off staff members and prompting them to call police to the building.

Police prosecutor Andrew Grafton told Warwick Magistrates Court that the 20-year-old had turned up before officers arrived to collect the delivery, but was turned away to allow the package to be seized and investigated.

He said police suspicions were soon confirmed when they opened the parcel and found 493g marijuana wrapped inside three layers of packaging.

“Police asked (Clark) what he thought was in the parcel, and he stated he had ordered a pair of jeans and some T-shirts on the internet and that’s what he thought it was,” Sergeant Grafton said.

The court heard Clark soon came clean to police, saying he had ordered the drugs online about a week prior and planned to use the marijuana for pain relief.

“When advised about the approximate weight, he said he was shocked and claimed to have ordered a far lesser amount, so was surprised by the amount of content that arrived in his name,” Sergeant Grafton said.

Duty lawyer Amber Acreman submitted character references from Clark’s grandmother and a close friend to the court, saying her client had a clean criminal history and had already suffered consequences of his offending outside of court proceedings.

“He started using (marijuana) to self-medicate to assist with pain and sleep issues that have arisen as a result of the injuries he sustained in quite a violent assault in September of last year,” Ms Acreman said.

“Notwithstanding the quantity, he never intended to do anything other than use (it) himself.

“Within an hour of being interviewed by police, he was contacted by his landlord and told he had to leave the premises, and then lost a lot of the property in that house so had needed to rely on friends and family.”

Magistrate Virginia Sturgess told Clark it was likely he was seeking some sort of psychological relief through his drug use, but warned him to make it his first and last appearance before the court to avoid a more serious punishment.

Clark pleaded guilty to one count of supplying dangerous drugs.

He was fined $1200 and no conviction was recorded.