Magic mushroom and a host of prescription cholesterol pills, a guilty plea and a lawyer and magistrate who had failed him, resulted in a man being convicted of the illegal possession of drugs and possible jail time if he did not pay a fine.
But a Durban High Court judge overturned the two convictions as the magistrate who had convicted the man never requested a scientific certificate to verify whether or not the substances were harmful.
To make matters worse, the substances were never found in the physical possession of the accused, but in a warehouse belonging to a deceased friend, who had a prescription for the cholesterol tablets.
Killian Shrosbree’s name was cleared after the matter made a turn from the Durban Magistrate’s Court to the high court for a review of the proceedings in the lower court.
This was after a senior magistrate expressed his reservations regarding the proceedings. Shrosbree, meanwhile, accepted his fate, which included a total of four years imprisonment or a fine of R4,000.
He pleaded guilty to being in possession of 4,320 Atorvastatin tablets (Lipitor), as well as four packets of psychedelic mushrooms. This was in spite of the fact that he had a lawyer who represented him in court.
Shrosbree explained to the court that two days after a close friend of his died, he went to the friend’s warehouse at the yacht club on the Bluff, as he had a key to the warehouse, and had made use of the warehouse to store his personal goods.
While in the process of removing his possessions, the police arrived and simply arrested him because he was “in possession” of the pills without a prescription and the mushrooms, which were packed in four plastic bags.
While Shrosbree never acknowledged that the substances were his own, he pleaded guilty because he had a key to the warehouse and he was there when the SAPS arrived.
In explaining how he got to be involved with the scheduled substances, the accused stated that Dennis Swart, a good friend of his, rented a storage facility at the yacht club. Swart, however, passed away two days prior to the accused’s arrest.
Shrosbree said he from time to time did odd jobs for Swart on his boat. Swart also told him that he had stored pills in the warehouse, which Swart told him was lawfully obtained on the prescription from a doctor. According to Swart, the medication was to “help his heart.”
He also said that Swart started growing a plant known as “magic mushrooms” and the latter asked him to help grow the plants by watering and fanning them. These plants were grown in tubs.
The accused said that other than helping to grow the mushrooms, he had no further dealings with them. He, however, was informed by Swart that the mushrooms would be sold for R25 a gram.
The accused told the lower court that he had no defence in law and thus was pleading guilty and was remorseful for his actions in contributing to growing magic mushrooms.
He also regretted being in possession of the substances without a prescription. In questioning the fact that the magistrate simply accepted his guilty plea, the high court commented that the Lipitor pills and the magic mushrooms were never taken to the SAPS laboratory for examination to determine whether they were, indeed, prohibited substances.
The high court said a plea of guilty cannot simply be accepted by a court without establishing whether a crime has been committed or not. In addressing the fact that the lawyer never established whether his client should have admitted to a crime which could prove not to be a crime.
The high court said: “A legal representative owes a duty of loyalty to his client and should always act in the best interests of the client. He or she must be acquainted with the facts of the case and must have knowledge of the applicable legal principles. Failure to possess that knowledge will fall short of the required standards.”
Pretoria News
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