Pair of drug ‘ clowns’

Judge blasts duo who turned up at house during police raid

TWO young men were busted with MDMA capsules on the morning of Groovin The Moo after they turned up at an address where a drug raid was taking place, a court has heard.

Mathew Russell Cowton, 21, and Shane Francis Murphy, 23, faced Townsville Magistrates Court to be sentenced for possessing dangerous drugs.

Police prosecutor Mark Fenlon said on the morning of the Groovin The Moo concert, Cowton and Murphy drove up to a Douglas address that was being raided by police, where they were questioned by officers.

Mr Fenlon said police found 13 purple tablets believed to be MDMA and five clear capsules containing a crystalline substance also believed to be MDMA.

“They also located and seized the defendant Cowton’s mobile phone from his pocket … messages indicated to investigators they had tried to source MDMA prior to travelling to Townsville,” he said.

The court heard the pair had spent the night driving from Brisbane to Townsville for the festival.

Solicitor Jessica Shuttleworth said the drugs were for their use over the festival. She asked that the court exercise the discretion not to record a conviction considering the impact it would have on their future employment.

Magistrate Ross Mack told Cowton and Murphy if they had been caught with it going into the festival they might have been charged with sup- plying dangerous drugs. “You see 15- year- olds and 16- yearolds go to Groovin the Moo, the last thing they need is some clowns like you, smashed off their head, making it unpleasant for them,” he said.

“And it’s really uncomfortable for parents who have children that young to send them to Groovin the Moo because of clowns like you … if you had even a quarter of what you brought with you, you would have been pretty smashed. You’re sentenced on the basis that it was for your own use but how you’re ever going to swallow six of the things in the space of a day and still stand upright is beyond me.”

Mr Mack said they had both jeopardised their future employment and their prospects of overseas travel.

Cowton and Murphy were each fined $ 1500, with Mr Mack saying the penalty was to reflect “the amount of the drugs, the purpose of the drugs and to give some sort of reflection of your chronic stupidity”.

No convictions were recorded.