{"id":5585,"date":"2012-06-28T16:57:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T06:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=5585"},"modified":"2012-11-08T21:52:53","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T11:52:53","slug":"man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/28\/man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Jailed On Drugs, Firearms Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 28, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 30-year-old Nanango man who used drugs after suffering an horrific work accident was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today to a total of 25 charges.<\/p>\n

William Dennis Clark faced 14 drug counts (including possessing cannabis and methylamphetamine, and producing cannabis), eight firearms charges plus dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, contravening a police direction and possessing tainted property.<\/p>\n

Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell said a police search of Clark’s Nanango property in March this year found well-tended marijuana plants ranging in height from 0.5m to 1m tall, a brown-coloured crystalline substance stored in clipseal bags in a safe, and six home-made .22 calibre pistols plus ammunition.<\/p>\n

Sgt Bushell said the pistols had been tested and were capable of firing a live round. <\/p>\n

Clark told police they belonged to a friend and he was just storing them.<\/p>\n

The dangerous operation of a vehicle charge stemmed from an incident in Fitzroy Street, Nanango, on April 20 when Clark was seen revving a black Commodore, which spun sideways before speeding off. This occurred at 1:15pm in the main street.<\/p>\n

A second police search of Clark’s property, this time on June 1, found two hypodermic needles, used bongs, a set of scales and a rifle magazine.<\/p>\n

The offences occurred while Clark was on a suspended sentence. He had been sentenced to four months’ jail for drugs offences – wholly suspended for two years – on June 30, 2010 in Nanango Magistrates’ Court.<\/p>\n

Sgt Bushell said the firearms were of particular concern to police as nothing other than a sinister conclusion could be made.<\/p>\n

Defence solicitor Adam Magill, for Clark, said his client was a mechanical engineer, and had a wife, three children and a mortgage. <\/p>\n

He had two predominant times during his life when he had offended … during 2004-05 and during recent times. The first period occurred after he lost his brother in a car crash “and sought solace in drugs”.<\/p>\n

Then in 2010, Clark suffered an horrific work injury, a compound fracture of his femur. Then when a titanium plate which had been inserted into the joint snapped, Clark was left wheelchair bound and totally incapacitated for some time. Again he turned to drug use.<\/p>\n

“He is placing himself before the court as someone requiring help rather than jail,” Mr Magill said.<\/p>\n

“The drugs at the premises were for personal use.”<\/p>\n

Mr Magill said the offending behaviour all stemmed back to Clark’s drug use, and the crowd in which he was running associated with that drug use.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Mark Bucknall said Clark had “considerably upped the ante” on his previous criminal history.<\/p>\n

He expressed concern that he had facilitated someone else having possession of the firearms.<\/p>\n

Mr Bucknall said the sentence must punish Clark justly, provide an opportunity for rehabilitation, be a deterrent to other people in the community, denounce the offending conduct and protect the community.<\/p>\n

However he did accept that Clark had saved court resources by pleading guilty.<\/p>\n

On the charge of contravening a police direction, Clark was convicted with no further penalty. For dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, he was disqualified from driving for nine months. <\/p>\n

On the remaining charges, Mr Bucknall imposed one penalty: 10 months’ jail with a court-ordered parole release date of October 25, 2012.<\/p>\n

On the breach of a suspended sentence, Clark was ordered to serve the outstanding four months’ jail, with the same parole release date.<\/p>\n

As he was led from court, Clark hugged his wife who was crying in the public gallery.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

As Clark left the court, his wife Selene Amber McLachlan was called to face the Magistrate.<\/p>\n

McLachlan pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing dangerous drugs, ie three clipseal bags containing methylamphetamine found in a locked safe at her Nanango home by police on March 21 this year.<\/p>\n

Police Prosecutor Sgt Wayne Bushell said McLachlan had claimed ownership of the drugs during the police search.<\/p>\n

Defence solicitor Adam Magill said McLachlan had no previous criminal history.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Bucknall said methylamphetamine was an insidious substance that seemed to wreak havoc on people who used it. <\/p>\n

He fined McLachlan $300 with no conviction recorded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 30-year-old Nanango man who used drugs after suffering an horrific work accident was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after he pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today to a total of 25 charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,24],"tags":[155,21,1132],"yoast_head":"\nMan Jailed On Drugs, Firearms Charges - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/28\/man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Jailed On Drugs, Firearms Charges - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 30-year-old Nanango man who used drugs after suffering an horrific work accident was sentenced to 10 months' jail after he pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrates' Court today to a total of 25 charges.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/28\/man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-28T06:57:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-08T11:52:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/28\/man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/06\/28\/man-jailed-on-drugs-firearms-charges\/\",\"name\":\"Man Jailed On Drugs, Firearms Charges - 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