Man ate cannabis, with police on way

What do you do when the police are on the way and you do not know what to do with the incriminating cannabis seedlings growing in your backyard?

You rip them out of the ground, whip over to the neighbour's – and eat them.

This was the choice made by Shane Garnett Lowry, 41, the New Plymouth District Court heard last week after he pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis in the backyard of his Cook St, New Plymouth, home on January 2.

Lowry's defence counsel, Barry Henderson said his client had nothing to do with cannabis. He had no idea why he ate the plants, Mr Henderson said.

"That's ridiculous. That's like saying you grow tomatoes but don't eat them," Judge Allan Roberts said.

Lowry's partner had found some cannabis plants growing in the backyard and "narked you to the police", the judge said.

Lowry had fled to the neighbours with an unknown number of plants and when police finally caught up with him, Lowry admitted the offence and told police he did not know what else to do with the plants so he had eaten them.

In sentencing Lowry to a $400 fine and court costs of $130, the judge remarked the case was a little bit different.

"It's one out of left field," the judge said.

- © Fairfax NZ News