An alleged drug trafficker will face the Supreme Court for trial in March.
In a bizarre development on Thursday, Benjamin Angus Shield’s lawyer told Hobart Magistrates Court her client had repeatedly refused to tell her how he wanted to plead to major charges including trafficking and drug manufacture.
Magistrate Reg Marron entered not-guilty pleas on Shield’s behalf and refused the 47-year-old’s bail application after hearing the alleged offending occurred while he was on bail for other offences.
Shield had requested release under the supervision of his 20-year-old daughter who lives interstate, the Magistrate labelling the bid “unacceptable”.
Police allege they caught Shield in a Hobart hotel room late last year with thousands of ecstasy tablets and a large quantity of MDMA .
A subsequent search of the accused’s home allegedly turned up thousands more pills as well as a pill press.
The total value of the alleged haul was around $400,000.
