Toowoomba man kicks off new year with a sizeable fine

A sizeable fine was probably not the best way this Toowoomba man could have welcomed in the new year.

The 53-year-old man copped a sizeable fine to kick off 2021.

A 53-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba man has kicked off his new year with a sizeable fine after pleading guilty in the city’s Magistrates Court to drug and weapons offences.

A police search of Christopher William Stewart’s Toowoomba home on October 30 had turned up 142 cannabis seeds, weighing 1.5g, in a clip seal bag, two pipes for smoking cannabis and a grinder for chopping up cannabis leaf.

Also found in separate places in the home were the parts of a Category A rifle for which Stewart had no licence, police prosecutor Shelby Larcombe told the court.

Stewart told police his father-in-law had given him the rifle about two years ago, she said.

Stewart pleaded guilty to all offences.

Duty solicitor Chelsea Saldumbide said her client had been a regular user of cannabis but he had reduced that use markedly.

There was nothing sinister behind the weapon and her client had co-operated, she said.

Acting Magistrate Roger Stark fined Stewart $800.