Man busted with 200 times commercial quantity of ketamine fails to convince judge of personal use

A MAN busted with more than 200 times the legal threshold for a commercial quantity of ketamine has failed to convince a judge it was all for personal use

Police seized 13g of ketamine from Lachlan Parr’s parcel locker at the Winnellie Post Office.

A MAN busted with more than 200 times the legal threshold for a commercial quantity of ketamine has failed in a bid to convince a judge the horse tranquillisers were all for personal use.

Lachlan Parr, 28, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to three counts of possessing a commercial quantity of a schedule one drug between December 2019 and February this year.

The court heard police intercepted two packages containing a total of more than 20g of ketamine Parr had ordered from a supplier in Victoria before raiding his Fannie Bay home.

There they found small amounts of various other drugs, clip-seal bags, digital scales and $610 in cash.

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In sentencing Parr to two years and six months in jail, suspended after three months, Justice Trevor Riley said while it had not been proven the cash was the proceeds of crime, he was not convinced the drugs were not intended for sale.

“In your evidence, you gave explanations for the obtaining of the ketamine, which I found quite implausible and I do not accept your explanations,” he said.

“In answering questions, it seemed to me that you would say whatever was convenient at the time.”

Parr had told the court he initially ordered seven grams of ketamine to “wean (him)self off valium” and when it was intercepted by the police, his dealer offered to send him another seven grams for free but sent him 13g instead.

“You could not explain why almost twice as much ketamine was sent to you as you ordered and as you had paid for,” Justice Riley said.

“You speculated that the dealer was using it as a ‘loss leader’, to use your expression. You agreed that sounded unbelievable, and to me, it is unbelievable.”

Parr also tried to explain away traces of ketamine on the seized scales by speculating that they “must have been brought out of (his) bedroom at a party and someone used them for ketamine”.

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“You said that you had the scales in your bedroom and you used them to measure cannabis for your own use,” Justice Riley said.

“I find it most unlikely that an experienced user of cannabis such as yourself would require scales in order to measure out a dose for your personal use on any particular occasion.

“I found the whole explanation quite improbable.”