An Australian businessman who pleaded not guilty to possessing more than 70 ecstasy tablets told Darwin Magistrates Court he thought they were birth control pills for his dog.
Steven James Dwyer, 48, pleaded guilty to possessing a traffickable amount of methamphetamine, but contested the charge of possessing an amount of ecstasy tablets, saying he thought the pills would stop his pet sharpeis from breeding.
He was found guilty and convicted on both charges - magistrate Vince Luppino adding he did not find the excuse for having a traffickable amount of ecstasy "reasonable". Dwyer told the court the ecstasy tablets - MDMA - had come into his hands when he was outside a Katherine laundromat, after he met a man with a female sharpei dog.
"We chatted about them - where he got them ... we kept talking about dogs and how he bred her," Dwyer said. And then we talked about his female coming on heat."
Dwyer told the court the man had told him he used birth control tablets on the dogs, but he had since had his own dog desexed and had no use for the tablets he had in his car. "I knew she was due to come on heat, I thought, 'That'll be very handy for her'," he said, claiming no money had changed hands.
Dwyer, a painter, told the court he had bought the methamphetamine - or speed - so he could stay awake to keep up with his workload. Magistrate Luppino sentenced Dwyer to two months' jail, which was fully suspended.
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