KEY POINTS:
A Christchurch man's cunning plan to spell his name backwards when he ordered cannabis over the internet was not enough to put the authorities off the scent.
Michael Gary Davis, a 28-year-old technician, stood in the Christchurch District Court dock to hear his offending described as naive and amateurish.
He was appearing before Judge John Strettell for sentence after pleading guilty to importing 20 seeds of the class C drug.
Defence counsel Grant Tyrrell explained: "He had been consuming alcohol and was trawling through the internet and thought it would be an excellent idea to import some cannabis seeds and do his own growing. Of course, this was not such a hot idea.
"He didn't make any significant efforts to get away with it. He used his personal address and turned his name around to spell it backwards."
Judge Strettell said the cannabis from the Netherlands had been intercepted and when a search warrant was executed at Davis' address, equipment that could be used for growing cannabis was found.
The offending was naive and amateurish, but the drug was apparently intended only for Davis' own use, said the judge.
But he said: "People need to know that nothing imported in the way of drugs is going to be dealt with leniently."
He released Davis under supervision for six months, with special conditions, and ordered him to do 125 hours of community work.
- NZPA
