Police arrested Terry Marie around 10 a.m. on 2 September 2000 as he disembarked the Cat Cocos ferry from Praslin at the Inter Island Quay in Victoria, carrying a black bag.[1][2] A body search found herbal cannabis in a small bag tied to his underwear, and the bag held three packets of cannabis, one of them containing 92 small plastic sachets.[1][2]
Laboratory analysis weighed the bag’s cannabis at 369.3 grams and the underwear stash at 32.4 grams.[1][2] Marie said the bag belonged to his cousin Arthur Hoareau, whose identity card, driving licence and clothes were inside it, but the magistrate called the story fanciful and held that Marie had control and knowledge of the drugs.[1][2] Hoareau was released without charge and never prosecuted.[1][2]
The Magistrates’ Court convicted Marie of trafficking in a controlled drug and sentenced him on 3 November 2004 to eight years’ imprisonment, the minimum mandatory term.[1][2] The Supreme Court dismissed his appeals against both conviction and sentence, holding that possession on another’s behalf still counts and that no exceptional reason justified departing from the mandatory term.[1][2]
