Marijuana dealer gets jail time for ‘spoiling people’s lives’

A FATHER of two has been jailed for six months with hard labour by the Mt Hagen District Court after being found guilty of possession of marijuana.
Simon Takara, 26, from Nebilyer in Western Highlands, was told by Magistrate Donald Joseph on Friday that apologising to the court and God would not prevent him from facing the consequences of the law that he had broken.
“We have many young people roaming around on the streets of Mt Hagen city looking for food in the rubbish bins with their trousers coming down at their back because of smoking marijuana,” Joseph said.
“People like you have no respect for the community and spoil the lives of many young people by selling marijuana to them.”
Joseph said he didn’t know if God would accept Takara’s apologies after he intentionally “spoiled the lives of many people for the greed of money”.
Takara was arrested last Monday at Pope Oval and charged with possession of marijuana under the Dangerous Drug Act.
He will serve his time at Baisu jail. Takara had in his possession three large packs of marijuana.
Police prosecution told the court that Takara was a popular marijuana dealer and police knew about him.
“He is not a new guy, he usually sells marijuana in the city and police want him to serve a custodial sentence,” the prosecution said.
Joseph told Takara that a jail term of three months to two years were imposed on those found guilty of such offences.
“This court has already sentenced many young people like you to Baisu jail because of marijuana.
“You too will go and serve six months” he said.
He told Takara to give up his bad habits when he completed his term at Baisu.