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:: Greymouth Evening Star
- NZPFU eNEWS 8 April 2005 |
Fire Service condones the
illegal
cultivation of cannabis
A "valued member" of a brigade, who admitted
cultivating cannabis, has escaped conviction on the backing of the
NZ Fire Service.
Lawyer tells Union that Volly
tended to, & grew cannabis in bags
A Kumara firefighter will escape conviction
for cannabis cultivation if she pays $250 to charity within two
months.
Donna Maree Schwass, 29, admitted cultivating the six mature
plants found at the rear of her Greenstone Road property.
Schwass said the plants were hers and she was growing them out
of curiosity.
Counsel Richard Bodle said Schwass had come across the seedlings
deeper in the bush and thought they had been planted by a man
who had since left the region.
Schwass uprooted the seedlings and replanted them close to her
property just to see how they would grow.
A reference from the Kumara Fire Brigade said Schwass was a
valued member and hard worker for the community.
Judge Saunders said a conviction would bar Schwass from entering
several countries and that was too big a penalty to pay for one
act of stupidity.
"This was silly behaviour. I accept you did not grow the
cannabis from seed but you adopted the plants and cared for them
and that's cultivation,'' the judge said.
If Schwass provides proof of the donation she will be discharged
without conviction.
Richard Bodle, the lawyer for Firefighter Donna Maree Schwass
has emailed the Union's Webmaster direct outlining "inaccuracies" in
the Greymouth Evening Star article:
"No one condoned the defendants behaviour, least
of all the fire brigade. She did not uproot the plants, they were in
bags. They were as big when she moved them as when the police found
them. She tended them only briefly and does not and has not
otherwise associated with cannabis."
Counsel Richard Bodle
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