A FATHER and son charged with drug offences following a police raid on their Calala home have pleaded guilty.
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Terrence Peter O’Rourke, 49, fronted Tamworth Local Court yesterday on three charges, admitting to the possession of equipment for administering a prohibited drug and cultivating a prohibited plant.
Solicitor Jason Curtis said the 49-year-old would fight one charge of supplying a prohibited drug after pleading not guilty.
“It’s the weight that will be an issue,” he told the court.
“The issue’s in relation to the drug itself when it was weighed.”
Magistrate Michael Holmes has ordered a brief of evidence into the case but questioned why police did not place O’Rourke on conditional liberty after he was charged.
“Here we are, someone is charged with supply and there is no bail?” he asked the court.
During the brief proceedings, O’Rourke’s son, 18-year-old Matthew O’Rourke, pleaded guilty to two offences – possessing drug equipment and possessing a prohibited drug.
Mr Curtis said despite the guilty plea, there was an issue with facts in relation to the weight of the drugs.
The charges follow a police raid in June during which officers allege they uncovered drugs inside the Calala home.
Tamworth Target Action Group police allege they found almost a kilogram of cannabis as well as a mature cannabis plant and equipment. The case has been adjourned to next month.