Rob had his day in court

NAPNT's Rob Fyffe had an ethical victory in Darwin Magistrates Court on Tues, 4 September.

Rob had been given a $180 Infringement Notice (plus $30 v.o.c. levee) when the misinformed Drug Squad raided the NAP house in Oct 2006 and found that instead of kilos of speed and a backyard meth-lab, Rob’s 0.5g of pot was the only illicit substance on the premises.

Rob refused to simply pay the fine, the “official bribe” as he put it, and chose to have the matter heard in court.

Although he pleaded “Not Guilty”, Rob held no expectation for the magistrate to ignore the obvious evidence of his possession of the illicit vegetable matter, but as he explained in court he couldn’t plead guilty as he said "I don't feel guilty", and "to plead guilty would require me to lie"

“I cannot plead guilty to being in possession of a dangerous substance, as marijuana is described in the the criminal act, as, having smoked it for 30 years, I know it’s NOT a dangerous substance.” he said. "So to plead guilty would require me to lie".

Magistrate Vince Luppino said he understood Mr Fyffe’s ethical dilemma, and the confusing semantics, but he had still broken the law.

Robert was fined $240 with no conviction recorded.