Police in drugs case labelled 'perjurers'

Police involved in a major drug trial have been labelled "bunglers" and "perjurers" by the defence.

Lawyer Chris Tennet made the allegations during the closing address for his client, Douglas Williams, in Hamilton District Court yesterday.

Douglas Williams, 25, his brother Darryl, 23, their father Ross, 46, Darryl Abraham, 43, and his son, Hayden Abraham, 20, face charges of cultivating and selling cannabis at Kereta, north of Thames, in 2002.

Ross Williams faces an additional charge of cultivating cannabis at Miranda near Thames. They deny the charges.

Police allege that when they raided Ross Williams' property on March 26, 2002, Ross and Douglas Williams and Darryl Abraham had just finished a drug deal and the two youngest men were tending one of five plots near the back of the property.

They estimated the 370-plant crop, some of it already picked, had a street value of $700,000.

In a strong attack, which echoed one made by Ross Williams' lawyer Patrick O'Sullivan, Mr Tennet accused police of lying, tampering with evidence and talking to witnesses.

He described those involved as a "band of bunglers" as well as "a parade of perjurers".

"If this wasn't a trial it would be a farce," he said. "You don't lie for justice, that's not justice."

Closing his case, Darryl Abraham's lawyer Mike Curtis said his client, who is an old friend of Ross Williams, was pig hunting at the property on the day of the raid.

Police photos show Darryl Abraham driving a four-wheel-drive with Douglas Williams on the back. Williams got off the bike and placed a black plastic bag in a white van. The Crown says the bag contained cannabis. But Mr Curtis said there was nothing to suggest his client knew what was in the bag.

He warned the jury about drawing inferences from photographs. One taken in the Abrahams' shed showed snap lock bags, alluding to drug dealing. But Mr Curtis said there were no photographs of fish stacked neatly inside the nearby freezer, in the same bags.

The jury is expected to hear the last of the closing addresses today.

- NZPA