Court fines man K1,000 for drug possession

A DISTRICT Court in Lae has ordered a man to pay a court fine of K1,000 or serve 12 months in prison for being in possession of dangerous drug.
Magistrate Issac Tjipet ordered None Toropo from Garaina’s Aro village in Morobe to pay the K1,000 court fine or serve the 12 months with hard labour at Buimo prison for being in possession of 18 K10 packs of marijuana.
The court noted that the defendant was unemployed, single and admitted that the drugs were for sale.
“You have pleaded guilty and shown remorse before this court, and so I will be lenient on your sentence and if next time you appear before this court on the same charge, there will be no leniency, take this as a life lesson and stop selling marijuana,” he said.
The court heard that on Saturday, around 10am, Toropo was sighted by a police response unit patrolling the downtown area.
He looked suspicious and upon searching him, the police unit found 18 K10 packs of marijuana on him.
In another drug-related case, Magistrate Tjipet ordered Tony Chris, 36, from Markham’s Antiragen village, Morobe to pay a court fine of K800 or eight months imprisonment in default for being in possession of 51 K1 packs of marijuana.
The court made the ruling after Chris pleaded guilty and admitted to his crime.
“Since you have shown remorse before this court, the court will be lenient on you, so pay your fine or if not, eight months imprisonment,” the magistrate said.