27 April 2016
Drugs charges against
Vietnamese men dropped after interpreter unavailable
Three Vietnamese men
accused of running a £185,000 cannabis factory at a self-storage unit in
Auchtermuchty have walked free – after the unavailability of an interpreter led
to a sheriff throwing out the charges against them just days after their
arrest.
Police raided an industrial estate in the town on
Friday after a report was received of a “strong smell of cannabis” coming from
inside.
Officers
who entered the unit at Bellview Self Storage in Station Road found a vast
cannabis growing operation – with 600 mature plants and 240 seedlings recovered.
Officers
say the street value of the cannabis recovered is as high as £185,000.
Ngoc Anh
Duong (26), Minh My Ho (20), and Long Van Le (22), were due to appear on
petition at Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday.
But
instead, the case against them called on a summary complaint - used for
prosecuting lesser crimes without the requirement for a jury trial and with a
maximum jail term of one year.
That
complaint was continued without plea until Tuesday - when prosecutors treated
that case as not called and instead had the trio appear in private on petition,
which would allow them to be tried by jury in the Sheriff or High Courts.
A
conviction at that level could result in a prison term of up to 14 years.
However,
lawyers representing the men are understood to have argued that there had been
an abuse of process in the way the Crown had handled the case.
Because a
Vietnamese interpreter was not available on Monday the lawyers could not take
instructions from their clients - which could have seen them plead guilty to crimes
at the lesser level.
That
would have led to a maximum jail term of a year - most likely discounted to
eight months for an early guilty plea at the first hearing, meaning only four
months actually spent in jail taking into account early release provisions.
Sheriff
Simon Collins QC ruled against a Crown argument to allow the petition to stand
and dismissed the petitions.
The Crown
declined the opportunity to recall the summary complaint and the trio were
released from custody.
The Crown
Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said they could still bring criminal
proceedings in the future.
A
spokesman for COPFS said: “The case could not go ahead as police were unable to
provide an interpreter in the time available.
“The
outcome does not prevent future criminal proceedings.”
It was
alleged that all three produced cannabis at a storage unit at Bellview Self
Storage, Station Road, Auchtermuchty, between January 19 and April 22 this
year.
They were
further alleged to have intentionally damaged electrical plant in that they
bypassed the electrical supply line.
Long Van
Le and Minh My Ho each faced charges of attempting to pervert the course of
justice at Kirkcaldy Police Station on April 22 by allegedly giving false dates
of birth.
