'Ecstasy was for my dog your honour'

By Emily Watkins

Drug charges ... Steven James Dwyer, 48, told a Northern Territory court he thought the ecstasy pills would stop his pet shar-peis from breeding.

• Steven Dwyer caught with 70 ecstasy pills
• Tells court they were birth control for dog
• Found guilty of drug possession

A NORTHERN Territory businessman who pleaded not guilty to possessing more than 70 ecstasy tablets told Darwin Magistrates Court he thought they were birth control pills for his dog.

Steven James Dwyer, 48, pleaded guilty to possessing a traffickable amount of methamphetamine, but contested the charge of possessing an amount of ecstasy tablets, saying he thought the pills would stop his pet shar-peis from breeding, the Northern Territory News reported.

He was found guilty and convicted on both charges - magistrate Vince Luppino adding he did not find the excuse for having a traffickable amount of ecstasy "reasonable".

Dwyer told the court the ecstasy tablets - MDMA - had come into his hands when he was outside a Katherine laundromat, after he met a man with a female shar-pei dog.

"We chatted about them - where he got them ... we kept talking about dogs and how he bred her," Dwyer said.

"And then we talked about his female coming on heat."

Dwyer told the court the man had told him he used birth control tablets on the dogs, but he had since had his own dog desexed and had no use for the tablets he had in his car.

"I knew she was due to come on heat, I thought, 'That'll be very handy for her'," he said, claiming no money had changed hands.

Dwyer, a painter, told the court he had bought the methamphetamine - or speed - so he could stay awake to keep up with his workload.

The court heard he had recently separated from his wife and was heading into a busy work time in May, when he was caught with 23.5g of ecstasy under the front passenger seat of his car and the 5g of methamphetamine in his trouser pocket, after he was pulled over by police on the Stuart Highway near Adelaide River.

The father-of-four was a coach and vice-president with the Katherine Rugby League, but was stood down when these charges were laid.

Magistrate Luppino sentenced Dwyer to two months' jail, which was fully suspended.

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