Senior Magistrate Will Francis on Wednesday.

Leon Fough, 48, pleaded guilty to possessing 0.009 grammes of diamorphine, or heroin, obstructing Police and violently resisting arrest.

Magistrates' Court heard he was arrested on October 1 at 5.40 p.m. in the Ducking Stool area of North Shore Road, after Police responded to tip-offs about drug-dealing.

Fough, of Coral Acres Lane in Warwick, struggled with Police and tried to escape before finally being subdued, Junior Crown counsel Veronica Gordon said.

Fough was fined $200 for having heroin, $200 for obstructing Police and $300 for violently resisting arrest. The fines must be paid by March 26.

HOMLESS MAN TRIED TO SLEEP IN VAN CTS Homeless man tried to sleep in van A homeless man who caused $3,000 damage to a van he broke into so he could sleep was jailed last week.

Steven Mills, 37, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to wilfully and unlawfully damaging the Quality Dry Cleaners van on Reid Street on the evening of February 7.

Before sentencing him to nine months in prison, Senior Magistrate Will Francis told Mills he had committed "a serious, bad piece of action'' and the company had had to pay $2,874 to have the van repaired.

Junior Crown counsel Veronica Gordon said a bystander called Police after seeing Mills smash in the back window of the van and open the door with a metal bar.

When officers arrived on the scene they found Mills asleep inside the battered vehicle.

He told Mr. Francis: "I am really sorry but I was just looking for somewhere safe to sleep.'' And he said he had been unable to seek refuge in the Salvation Army Shelter where he used to stay because he was being bullied there and had no protection ever since the shelter's former boss Brad Wilkinson died of cancer.

FIRST-TIME DRINKER RUES COSTLY MISTAKE CTS First-time drinker rues costly mistake A waiter has promised never to drink again after his first experience of alcohol landed him in trouble.

Charles Shalen, 28, of Lusher Hill, Warwick, was stopped by a Police patrol car after driving through several red traffic lights in Hamilton town centre in the early hours of Sunday, January 31.

He was taken to Hamilton Police Station on suspicion of driving while impaired but refused to give a breath test.

In Magistrates' Court yesterday Shalen, explained that he had held a party that evening and had consumed alcohol for the first time in his life.

"This was my first and last time,'' he said.

Banning Shalen for 12 months and fining him $450, Senior Magistrate Will Francis said: "That sounds like a very wise decision but I have to do what the law says I must do.'' WOMAN USED PIPE TO SMOKE COCAINE CTS Woman used pipe to smoke cocaine A 48-year-old woman appeared in Magistrates' Court last Thursday after Police found a pipe in her purse which had been used to smoke cocaine.

Mildred Philpott, of Angle Street, Pembroke, pleaded guilty to the charge.

Junior Crown counsel Veronica Gordon said that on November 24 last year, Police on mobile patrol saw her at a section of Angle Street known to be frequented by drug users.

The officers said Philpott seemed to start acting suspiciously when they approached her and it appeared that she put something behind her back.

She admitted to them that she had a homemade pipe in her purse which Police confiscated for further tests.

A Government analyst later discovered traces of cocaine in the pipe.

Philpott said she was "very sorry'' and Senior Magistrate Will Francis fined her $150.

BARBER TOLD TO `CLEAN UP HIS ACT' CTS Barber told to `clean up his act' A Warwick barber was fined $600 in Magistrates' Court for having almost six grammes of cannabis in his possession.

Danere Spence, 25, of Bulkhead Drive, pleaded guilty to the charge after Police arrested him on November 17 last year for an unrelated matter.

Junior Crown counsel Veronica Gordon told the court that when an officer "patted down'' Spence before putting him in the Police vehicle to be taken to Hamilton Station, 14 envelopes of the cannabis were discovered in his pocket.

A Government analyst later found the pay-type envelopes held 5.945 grammes of cannabis.

Senior Magistrate Will Francis told Spence to "clean up his act''.