No jail for drugs but wait till he gets home

A prominent businessman has narrowly avoided going to jail after being caught with drugs _ but he is in trouble with his mum.

Cornelius Fransiscus Johansen, 38, who runs an aquarium business at Katherine, was found with 668g of cannabis in his car and home.

The drugs had a street value of more than $27,600. Most of the cannabis was in clip-seal bags.

Supreme Court judge Trevor Riley said the Misuse of Drugs Act presumed that amount of drugs was for sale and the mandatory sentence was at least 28 days in prison.

But he said he believed the cannabis was only for personal use.

``I do accept that it would not have been sold to others, although it may have been shared with close friends who were already cannabis users,'' he said. Johansen was given a four-month suspended sentence.

``I accept that you have now ceased the use of cannabis and that it is your present intention not to use it again,'' Justice Riley said.

Johansen and his wife live with his mother.

``Your mother is, not surprisingly, most unimpressed by your conduct,'' Justice Riley said.

Johansen had rebuilt his business after being ruined in the 1998 Katherine floods.

His lawyer, Ian Rowbottam, told the court the business would be lost if he was sent to jail.

Johansen's wife was dealt with in a magistrates court for her involvement in the drug offences and was fined and given a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Meanwhile, two men are to be summonsed and several people were issued drug infringement notices after police searched homes in Greater Darwin over the weekend.

A 19-year-old man was issued with a drug infringement notice by Darwin Tactical Team members yesterday after being found in possession of 1.8g of cannabis while at work in Darwin city centre.

Darwin CIB, the Command Tactical Team and Darwin general duties officers searched two Stuart Park addresses late on Friday and found 25g of amphetamines.

And on Saturday night, the tactical team found 45g of cannabis at a unit on The Esplanade and issued a drug notice to a 56-year-old man.

Casuarina detectives searched a northern suburbs home on Sunday and found more than 95g of cannabis and cash suspected of being the proceeds of drug dealing.

A 32-year-old man is to be summonsed and a 38-year-old man was issued with an infringement notice.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: 11th January 2005
Source: Northern Territory News
Author: Nigel Adlam
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au
Email: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News