An Indian man who was carrying prohibited drugs for a friend’s father has escaped jail after the court found he has excellent prospects of rehabilitation.
The man was travelling from Renmark in South Australia to Canberra in the ACT in November 2017 along with another person when their car was stopped by the police for a breath test.
Both men aroused police’s suspicion when they said they had driven from Canberra to Renmark to visit family members for a few hours and decided to return home the next day.
Upon searching their vehicle, police located a margarine container with a large brown block weighing 362 grams.
“It’s medicine. It’s Doda. It’s for my uncle. It’s medicine,” said the passenger.
The police also found a large number of flowers and seeds which were later identified as being Papaver Somniferum and weighed over 1 kg.
The man told the police he did not know that the resin was a prohibited drug and that he was taking the items to his uncle in Canberra. It was to be used by his uncle for medicinal purposes.
The man, who had migrated to Australia as a 19-year-old as an international student and had close associations with Indian based community groups in Australia, as well as in India said he was assisting the father of a close friend procuring what he believed were medical products.
Source: Public Domain
He did not consider his decision making to secure and transport the drugs as illegal at the time of the offence.
The court heard the man was in permanent employment and had no criminal history whatsoever. The court also noted that this is a one-off offence.
The offender deposed that he did not try and hide the items and thought when he told the police that there were no drugs inside the vehicle, he was telling the truth.
The court also heard the uncle, for whom the substance was intended, did not fare well without the drugs during his stay in Australia.
It heard the prohibited substances were procured for the uncle who was suffering from throat cancer that required pain relief. The court heard ‘Doda’ is a common name for a substance made from poppy husks which is usually consumed with tea.
A medical record for treatment sought by the uncle in a drug and alcohol program whilst here was also annexed. The uncle left for India in December 2017.
The court found the man was remorseful, sorry and genuinely ashamed to be associated with illegal drugs.
The court concluded that the offender had ‘excellent prospects of rehabilitation’.
It convicted him for supplying prohibited drugs and ordered his sentence of 2 years and 3 months be served by way of an intensive correction order.
