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Police drop drug charge against Cousins
David LowdenFriday, October 19, 2007
Cousins fall not AFL's fault: Demetriou Should Ben Cousins have been sacked?
WA police have decided to drop the drug possession charge hanging over Ben Cousins just a day after the disgraced eagle appeared in court.
Police prosecutors will go back to the Perth Magistrate's Court at 9am on Monday morning and apply to have the charge formally dropped. There remains the possibility a new charge may replace it. wwos com.au understands because the drug police will allege was found in Cousins's four wheel drive was not a prohibited substance, the charge had to be dropped. Prosecutors will consider whether to charge Cousins with possessing a prescription only drug without a script.
Police have only dropped the possession charge which is believed to relate to a prescription drug, although prosecutors did not table that in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday.
Cousins will still have to face the charge of refusing to provide a blood test. His lawyer, Shane Brennan, successfully applied for a 90 day adjournment to the hearing of the charges. After yesterday's hearing, Mr Brennan said Cousins would plead not guilty.
Today he said the charge was doomed to fail. "In essence, Totally misconceived from the start," Mr Brennan said.
The 29 year old was sacked by the West Coast Eagles on Wednesday night after he was arrested and charged with possessing a prohibited drug and refusing to provide a blood sample for analysis by police.
The Eagles will not be reviewing their decision to sack Cousins as it was based on the fact Cousins had allegedly refused to cooperate with police for a third time. Club chairman-elect, Mark Barnaba, denies the club acted hastily. "The situation hasn't changed ... the decision the board took and the Eagles have taken is one which was due to an accumulation of events," Mr Barnaba said. "We're obviously still concerned about Ben's health and we want to put the club's resouces behind him but our decision hasn't changed.
Cousins may have not been sacked had he stuck to his original plan to fly to the United States shortly after the end of the season to continue his rehabilitation at a Malibu clinic. Whether or not Cousins will be granted a visa to return to the United States with a charge hanging over his head will be a matter for US authorities.
