Excuses go up in smoke in court

A GRAFTON man claimed 1.15kg of marijuana was for "personal use" when police executed a search warrant on his home

WHEN police executed a search warrant on his Grafton property, Mark Messenger attempted to claim 1.15kg of marijuana, scales and resealable bags were to control how much he smoked, and $10,595 in cash was winnings from the pokies.

The excuses didn't last long in Grafton Local Court, where the 55-year-old pleaded guilty to supply of marijuana between an indictable and commercial quantity and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

According to police facts, police executed a search warrant on the morning of September 14 last year. Messenger told police he said there was some "stuff" on the property, claiming the marijuana was his.

Messenger took police to a bedroom and told officers of an amount of marijuana in a black plastic bucket. Police found six resealable bags individually wrapped containing 28g of marijuana. Underneath the bucket police searched a cardboard box that contained two cryovaced bags of marijuana both weighing 454.5g. Next to the bags were a number of resealable bags and a set of scales.

When police questioned Messenger, he said the marijuana was for his personal use and that he divided it into smaller bags to control how much he smoked.

Police continued to search the property, and in the bedroom found two ounce bags of marijuana in a drawer, and a large amount of cash, which Messenger claimed was from wins on pokie machines in various Grafton hotels.

In Grafton Local Court, Messenger's defence lawyer said his client accepted the seriousness of the charges and the penalties it would attract.

He also said Messenger suffered from chronic back pain, and had turned to marijuana use to alleviate his suffering.

Magistrate Karen Stafford sentenced Messenger to a two-year suspended sentence, and ordered $10,595 be forfeited to the Crown.

Originally published as Excuses go up in smoke in court