Compo pay out used for drugs

[grace]

Robert Gordon Zerner used $26,000 from a compensation payout to buy marijuana for hash cookies.

 

Police said the 5.5kg of drugs they found at his Yeppoon home had a street value of up to $70,000.

 

Zerner’s defence barrister Phillip Hardcastle yesterday told the Supreme Court at Rockhampton that the drugs were for personal use to make cookies and hash butter which helped relieve the pressure from his client’s bipolar disorder.

 

Justice Duncan McMeekin didn’t believe the drugs were to be used for a commercial purpose.

 

He said Zerner, 61, of Great Keppel Island, had led an exemplary life and recognised his role he’d played in the community and RSL organisations.

 

Zerner pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs.

 

A psychiatrist’s submission in his defence said his personal issues gave him a “tendency for grandiosity†which saw him buy products in large quantities that people wouldn’t normally buy.

 

Such as buying more than 1000 candles when a cyclone was approaching and buying a car or motorcycle on impulse.

 

In the early hours of May 7 last year, police executed a search warrant at his Yeppoon house to find 14 clipseal bags each containing one ounce (28g) of cannabis buds, as well as three buckets each containing one pound (453grams) of the same product.

 

Three sets of digital scales with marijuana residue were also claimed in the raid.

 

Crown prosecutor David Morters argued that the quantity, the way it was packaged, the presence of the scales and the absence of a smoking implement suggested the drugs were used for a commercial purpose.

 

A statement by Detective Sergeant Anthony Parsons of the State Drug Investigation Unit tendered to the court said the buds of the plant was not generally used for the extraction of cannabis oil and that the way it was packaged was consistent with trafficking.

 

But defence barrister Phillip Hardcastle said there was “not one iota†of evidence which suggested that Zerner was trafficking drugs and that the large quantity was for his personal use.

 

He said Zerner had received a $140,000 compensation payout, and that he used $26,000 of this money to buy the drugs more than two years ago.

 

During his time in the RAAF, Zerner worked on the reseal-deseal of fuel tanks of the F-111 fighter planes, a job which has been linked to serious health problems and has been the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

 

Mr Hardcastle said his client was heavily involved in the RSL, especially in Blackwater where he worked in the mines, and had served with the airforce in Malaysia and Singapore.

 

He said the health issues clearly had to play some role, considering his good past and background.

 

Justice Duncan McMeekin took into account his solid work history and the health issues and accepted that he did not have the drugs for a commercial purpose.

 

He recorded a conviction and sentenced Zerner to two years jail, wholly suspended for three years.

 

Author:Liam Butterworth

Date:7th September 2010

Source: Rockhampton Morning Bulletin

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2010/09/07/ex-serviceman-made-his-hash-cookies-with-compo/

[mungu226]

How about his bipolar disorder symptom he is suffering ? Without choice, He has to take some anti depressants or Valium acknowledging all those side effects and thanks to the Judge who gave him the suspended jail sentence so he wont be able to make his own choice for his own health for three years!. What a non-sense.

[The Hash Nibbler]

I call it creative financing....hey, it still makes more sense than putting it in the bank and getting screwed anyway.. Gh72