Equal rights lets husband off the hook

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 31, 19 January 1988, Page 12

Equal rights lets husband off the hook

Duncan V i n c e n t Metekingi, 34, shearing contractor of Raetihi, appeared on one charge of permitting premises to be used for the commission of an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act and to one charge of illegal possession of a rcstricted pesticide (cyanide). The first prosecution witness was Constable Callum McGilvray of Wanganui who said that he had been part of a police contingent which had executed a search warrant at the defendant's Duncan Street home on 12 June last year. He had found material resembling cannabis wrapped in tinfoil on a bedside table in the master bedroom. He noted that the wardrobe contained both mens' and womens' clothing. The second prosecution witness, Lance Tebbutt of Wanganui was another member of the police team who conducted a search of the house in Duncan Street. He told the Court that he had found a packet on top of the wardrobe. The contents of the packet were subsequently analysed by the DSIR and found to be cannabis material. Another prosecution witness, Constable Wayne Mills of Wanganui, told the Court that he had been the acting police constable in Raetihi during June of last year. As a result of information

received he had orgamsed a number of search warrants in Raetihi and was with the police team which carried out the search of defendant's house in Duncan Street, where he found several pieces of screwed-up tin foil. He also found, in a locked room inside the garage, an ammunition box containing five tubes of cyanide and opossum bait. He said that when he questioned defendant about this cyanide, defendant had said it was not his but belonged to a friend. When he asked defendant why he allowed people to smoke dope in his house he said that he didn't allow it but "people come and go"Defendant denied smoking dope himself but told witness: "but my wife does". Defendant then took the witness stand to give evidence on his own behalf. He told the Court that he always told visitors that he didn't want to have cannabis in the house but, as a shearing contractor, he was away often. He didn't know anything about the cannabis that was found in his house on 12 June last year and said there must have been about nine adults and several children in the house at the time of the search. He told the Court that he and his wife had moved out of the master bedroom to allow a solo mother and her child to sleep there during her stay with them.

He said that he had just returned home from opossum hunting with two friends on the day in question and had been asked by one of them (who was a licensed dangerous poisons holder) if the cyanide could be put in the lock-up room in the garage, as it was not safe to leave it in his car which could not be properly secured. Under cross-examination he said that he may have told Constable Mills that "his wife smoked dope" but didn't mean to say it as it was untrue. He also denied intending using the cyanide himself or without the supervision of his licensed friends. The second defence witness was Nelson Home of Kakahi. He told the Court that he was a dangerous poisons licence holder and had returned with defendant to Raetihi and had asked defendant to lock up the ammunition box containing the cyanide in the security room in the garage as his car couldn't be locked. Witness said that he had kept the key to the lockedup room. In dismissing both charges Judge Unwin said that as far as the breach of Pesticide Regulations was concerned, possession implied some form of ownership or control but since defendant didn't have the key to the locked-up cyanide, he couldn't be seen to have possession. On the charge of permitting premises to be used for the commission of an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act Judge Unwin said it seemed unreasonable to charge a husband whose wife smoked cannabis with this offence as the house was a jointly owned property in which husband and wife had equal rights and she couldn't reasonably be asked to leave the marital home because she smoked cannabis. Counsel: Jim Rota of Wanganui. Hillary Pirihita Metekingi, 30, housewife of Raetihi, appeared to defend a charge of possession of cannabis on 12 June last year. She denied that she had earlier admitted possession of cannabis when she was questioned by a police Cont'd on back page

Equal rights

Cont'd from p. 12 constable during a search of her house. She said that when the constable had told her that either she or her husband would be charged with possession she had said: "take me". She told the Court that she and her husband had vacated the master bedroom in June last year so that a "friend who had problems" could sleep there while she and her husband slept on a mattress in the lounge. Because her admissions to police on the night in question differed from the testimony she gave in Court, Judge Unwin found the charge established. She was convictcd and rcmanded to appear in the Ohakune District Court on 12 February for a community service assessment report. Counsel: Jim Rota of Wanganui.