Ecstasy pills man escapes prison

DAYS before his 21st birthday, Ashton Wayne Cobb was busted with 88 ecstasy pills.

But, during his Cairns Supreme Court appearance, he escaped jail after Justice James Henry took note of his age.

At 1am on November 14, 2015, he was approached by police after leaving Gilligan’s nightclub and found with the drugs.

The Supreme Court was told that the capsules had a total weight of 8.013 grams, 5.685 grams of which was pure MDMA.

Justice Henry said the quantity of pills was a significant feature.

He rejected Cobb’s reasons for possessing the quantity of drugs saying that some aspects of the story were “certainly unbelievable”.

Cobb had apparently been using MDMA since leaving school and that use had increased to using multiple tabs.

The night before he was caught he was made an offer for a bulk amount of MDMA.

He withdraw $1200 from an ATM and made the purchase.

“On that amount the tablets were worth about $13 each, which is considerably less than the (traditional) street dollar price.”

He didn’t go home that night, staying with friends, and had no where to stash the drugs so he took them with him when we went out.

Justice Henry said this part “seems to be simply incredible”.

“If you were older you’d be going to jail today,” he said.

Cobb pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs, was fined $4000 and placed on three years probation.

A conviction was recorded.