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Pedophile in custody for smoking joint

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By Christine Flatley

July 04, 2008 02:35pm

A CONVICTED sex offender who breached his supervision order by smoking a joint has been remanded in custody until the matter is finalised.

Police arrested Steven Shane Bickle, 53, earlier this week after he returned a urine sample that tested positive for cannabis on June 24. Under his supervision order, Bickle is forbidden to use illicit drugs.

Giving evidence today in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Bickle admitted that he had "one or two puffs on a reefer" a couple of days before he was due to undergo his weekly drug test.

He told the court one of his children had given him the joint last Christmas and that he decided to smoke it while poring over the memoirs of his father who had recently passed away.

Bickle said he smoked only a small amount before stopping because he "didn't like the sensation" and "felt unclean".

"It was a stupid act ... I realise this," he said.

"I realised it wasn't for me.

"I didn't enjoy the experience and I crushed it under my shoe."

The court was told this latest test was the first positive urine sample he had returned for drugs or alcohol since he was first incarcerated in 1992.

Bickle was released under a 20-year community-based supervision order in June 2006 after serving almost 14 years for sex offences against children.

His lawyer John Allen today appealed to Chief Justice Paul de Jersey for the release of his client until the final determination of the matter.

Mr Allen argued his client had exceptional circumstances that warranted his release, namely that he was the sole carer of his partner, who suffers from chronic diabetes.

However Chief Justice de Jersey rejected the application, finding that the inconvenience of finding a new carer "should not prevail over the need for community protection".

"Her condition, in my view, is not sufficient to warrant not ordering an interim detention," Chief Justice de Jersey said.

Bickle will be assessed by two psychiatrists before the matter of the breach is finalised in court.

It is expected to be listed for hearing in late August.

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