Former cop pleads guilty to cannabis possession
A FORMER police officer has escaped a conviction after pleading guilty to possessing cannabis.
Northern Territory
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A FORMER police officer has escaped a conviction after pleading guilty to possessing cannabis.
Brittany-Rose Mary Kettle, 28, appeared in the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to possessing less than a trafficable quantity of cannabis.
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The court heard police searched her home on the morning of September 18 and seized 0.49g of cannabis in a half smoked joint and loose.
Kettle was arrested and, according to her lawyer Ray Murphy, spent almost 13 hours in custody.
She was a Senior Constable with NT Police at the time and resigned from the force on the same day.
Mr Murphy told the court that his client “does not smoke cannabis and never has” but let her friend keep her cannabis there and smoke it in her backyard.
“Her decision to resign was based upon shame and embarrassment,” he said.
“She apologised particularly to those officers (who searched her house and arrested her).”
Judge Greg Macdonald chose not to impose a conviction on Kettle for the offending, but ordered her to pay a $150 victims’ levy.
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“The reputation of the police force of the NT needs to be preserved and protected in the eyes of the public,” Mr Macdonald said.
“She has paid a very significant price (for her offending).”
It comes as another NT Police officer, 43-year-old Daniel Keelan, faced court in separate proceedings on charges of supplying cocaine to another police officer and stealing a police-issued gun.
He has not yet entered a plea.
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