In June 2020, our client stayed overnight at her cousin’s house along with a few others and left early the next morning for work.
Just over two years later, she was charged with possession of an ounce of methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply. Why? About an hour after she left her cousin’s house, Police executed a search warrant and in the main robe located the drug in a clip seal bag concealed inside a paper towel and duct tape. The occupants of the house pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of the drug with intent to sell or supply and were serving lengthy prison sentences by the time our client was charged in June 2022.In the meantime, Police had sent off the paper towel and duct tape for forensic analysis and our client’s DNA was found on swabs taken from the packaging, and decision was made to charge her.She contacted our firm for legal assistance before she was interviewed by police in June 2022 and followed our advice to offer ‘no comment’ to questions asked.We obtained the forensic case file from PathWest as a matter of priority and after assessing the evidence carefully and thoroughly, we were confident that the prosecution would not be able to prove our client was in ‘possession’ of the drug. We wrote to the Office of the DPP, inviting the State to discontinue the charge on the basis it would never be able to establish the element of ‘possession’ and the prosecution case was destined to fail. After three months of waiting for a response (and no doubt the ODPP trying to build a case) the ODPP realised it had no case and we were advised that the charge would be discontinued. The charge was discontinued and our client was, obviously, relieved and delighted.
