Dagga farmer loses case

[grace]

Dagga farmer loses case

Zelda Venter

December 15 2008

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&am...55356615C925003

 

The Pretoria High Court has ruled that the police were justified in arresting a Kameeldrift cannabis farmer for dealing in drugs as he could not provide a permit.

 

Russell de Beer instituted a R620 000 damages claim against the minister of safety and security, claiming that he was unlawfully arrested and detained on drug charges while he had a permit for the 1.2 tons of dagga in his possession.

 

De Beer, 37, was arrested for drug trafficking in February 2004 when the police raided his farm. He was kept in police cells for a night and subsequently charged.

 

All charges were, however, later withdrawn.

 

De Beer testified that he grew up in Switzerland where he got involved in cannabis at the age of 17.

 

He was previously convicted for possession of dagga.

 

He returned to South Africa in 2002 to investigate whether the climate conditions would withstand the cultivation of dagga to be used for commercial purposes.

 

He said he approached the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) to obtain a permit in this regard.

 

De Beer started cultivating dagga on his farm in 2002 and received regular visits from the police.

 

He said an official of the ARC first told him a permit had been granted, but later said it had not, forcing him to destroy the crops.

 

He was told a year later that the permit was in place and once again started growing dagga in open fields and under shade cloth.

 

However, when he was arrested, he could not produce the permit.

 

De Beer told the police that the permit was with the ARC and that they should have contacted the organisation to verify whether he had a permit or not.

 

Judge Moses Mavundla said from the photographs handed to court it was clear that during the raid, some of the dagga was found in a bath, and some in plastic containers on top of kitchen cupboards.

 

He said if De Beer indeed conducted research, one would expect the dagga to be neatly kept and marked.

 

He said given the quantity of the dagga and the circumstances under which it was kept, any reasonable police officer would have been justified in effecting an arrest at the time.

 

Mavundla said one could hardly have expected the police to walk away without much ado.

 

"The police are expected to fight any drug-related activity, particularly with regard to the debilitating effect drugs have on the health of those exposed and enslaved to such drugs as cannabis," said Mavundla.

 

The judge said he couldn't find how the police acted outside the law in the circumstances that prevailed.

 

Mavundla said in a crime-plagued society, it is justified for the police to act if they suspect a crime has been committed.

 

 

This article was originally published on page 4 of Pretoria News on December 15, 2008