September 29, 2011

Drug dealer's cash claim dismissed as 'fantasy'

By David Clarkson at Christchurch Men's Prison

A judge has dismissed as fantasy a drug dealer?s claims that the wads of cash ? totalling $29,000 ? lying around his home and car were there legitimately to buy property in Fiji.

And having decided the cash was tainted from dealing in methamphetamine and cannabis, Judge Jane Farish sent Dean Anthony Ebert to jail for seven-and-a-half years.

?Drug dealing, particularly methamphetamine, and possession for supply of these pernicious drugs always require a deterrent sentence because it has such a negative impact on the community,? said the judge.

?People who involve themselves in that sort of offending need to know and understand that on their apprehension and arrest they will be dealt with severely by the courts.?

She said it was clear the 49-year-old freezing worker had been dealing in a commercial way, because of the amount of drugs and the cash found in his possession.

Ebert admitted the drug offending, pleading guilty to charges of possession of methamphetamine and cannabis for supply, cultivating cannabis, and unlawful possession of a shotgun and ammunition.

But he spent an uncomfortable 40min in a Christchurch District Court session inside the men?s prison today trying to explain the bundles of cash which were going to add to his sentence if they were found to be drug money.

Now that Judge Farish has ruled against him, prosecutor Kathy Basire said the crown would go ahead with a civil claim to take the money off him.

He said he borrowed $50,000 in 2007 to buy property in Fiji but the deal became complicated and was delayed. He spent some of the money on a car and refurbishing his Christchurch house, and then in March 2009 he withdrew $34,000 to convert to Fijian currency so that he could go to Fiji and do the deal in cash.

He said the cash was kept at home for about a year, until the police drug raid in March 2010. They found $3357 cash in the console of his car, $9000 in a cassette case on a shelf in his bedroom, $10,000 in a black shopping bag, and $3000 in a plastic bag on a coffee table.

They also found 33.1g of methamphetamine with a street value of $33,100 and 47.7g of cannabis. A room had been fitted out as a cannabis growing area.

Ebert was released on bail and the police checked his house again two months later and found more methamphetamine and 113.6g of cannabis.

Judge Farish noticed several transaction lists which she said correlated to drug amounts. Ebert tried to explain them as being not his writing, or just doodles, or rent payments from student tenants.

A note found in his bedroom recorded how much methamphetamine could be made from a certain amount of the medication pseudo-ephedrine. Ebert said the note was not his writing and had been left there by ?undesirables?.

Ebert claimed he had not used the cash the buy methamphetamine, but he admitted he was planning to sell drugs at some stage. He said he stole the methamphetamine from a drug dealer?s car in a hotel carpark. That package also contained thousands of ?point bags? which are used to sell the drug and which were found at his house.

Judge Farish heard his explanation and then ruled: ?This is fantasy.?

She noted he had served jail terms in 1989 and 2000 for possession of cannabis for supply, and was prosecuted for possession of LSD.

It was a serious aggravating feature that he told the police he had the shotgun and ammunition for protection.

Defence counsel Margaret Sewell said Ebert had worked hard all his life but had become caught up in a drug habit which had caused ?a descent into chaos?.