A 31-year-old woman charged with possession of what she claimed was “synthetic cannabis**” that was “given” to her, was convicted in her absence and fined $330 when she failed to appear in Mudgee Local Court.
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Kelly Williams of Horatio Street, Mudgee, came to the attention of police at about 2.35am on Sunday, September 9, 2018.
Officers watched her walk away from the Mudgee BP service station, along Church Street towards Denison Street, all while watching the police. They then saw her head back to Mortimer Street, at which time they stopped and questioned her.
Police noted that Williams appeared nervous and was shaking, she claimed to be going to the residence of a person they knew lived in Denison Street. When they asked her why she was heading away from that location she said “I like to walk”.
Having formed suspicion of her actions police searched Williams and found 2g of vegetable matter in her wallet. She told officers this was “synthetic cannabis that smells like lavender” which was given to her by “a lady”.
This explanation amused Magistrate David Day when convicting the defendant in her absence, asking the prosecution if the police are aware that “there’s a very nice lady in town whose giving away synthetic cannabis at no charge”.
In an unrelated matter, a 39-year-old woman was also convicted in her absence when she failed to appear in court on her own charge of drug possession arising from an early morning encounter with police.
Jasmine Louise Pepper of Red Box Lane, Kains Flat, was stopped by police at about 3.15am on Monday, September 3, 2018, as she was driving along Gladstone Street, Mudgee.
Officers questioned what she was doing at this time and after receiving answers that noted as being “peculiar”, they conducted a search of the vehicle. They found 0.26g of methamphetamine in her handbag.
** Synthetic drugs are criminalised in NSW by a combination of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966 and the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985.
