Police botch drugs case against Elder
A botched police prosecution has seen a drugs case against Paul Holmes' daughter Millie Elder thrown out of court.
Elder's white Mercedes was searched by police in December 2009 after a passenger was spotted drinking alcohol within the Auckland city liquor ban zone.
Police told Auckland District Court that a bag of cannabis was found in the car and a "P pipe" for smoking methamphetamine was found in Elder's purse next to her wallet and ID.
Elder ran from police after being apprehended and later said: "It's all mine", referring to the contents of the car, a police constable told the court.
She was charged with possession of cannabis, methamphetamine and instruments for drug use, and also charged with obstructing police.
The police case fell apart yesterday, though, when prosecutors failed to supply evidence that the area of the search was covered by the liquor ban.
A "no case to answer" submission by Elder's lawyer, Kim Holden, was upheld.
Judge Philippa Cunningham said the rest of the case flowed from that search and without evidence that the liquor ban was in place, the search was not lawful and the rest of the case had to fail.
The police prosecutor applied to reopen his case and supply the evidence, but the judge said this could only be done if the prosecution had missed something that could not have been foreseen rising from the defence case.
Ms Holden said she had indicated that the liquor ban would be an issue at a previous hearing.
The judge said the obstruction charge remained as it was not a consequence of the search.
Elder pleaded guilty to the charge and was discharged without conviction. She was fined $150 for an earlier charge she had admitted of possession of cannabis in January 2010.
The judge said Elder had previous convictions for drug-related offending, but her lawyer said she had made great progress in rehabilitation and had not faced any new charges in 2010 or 2011.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4643529/Police-botch-drugs-case-against-Elder