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Monday, 27 December 2010

Australian pro golfer given suspended term for cocaine possession

CHIBA —

The Chiba District Court on Monday sentenced an Australian professional golfer to a year and a half in prison, suspended for three years, for possessing and using cocaine.

Wayne Perske, 36, was convicted of inhaling cocaine and having some 1.25 grams of cocaine powder in his pocket at a bar in the city of Chiba on Oct 22. Perske was in Japan to take part in a golf tournament in Chiba in which he failed to advance beyond a preliminary round.

While Perske argued he had used the drug to avoid feeling lonely as he had been away from his family due to overseas competitions, Judge Yasunobu Hosoya said the defendant ‘‘needs to live with such kind of stress as a professional athlete playing abroad.’‘

Hosoya, however, gave him a suspended term because his wife promised during the court hearing to supervise him from now on.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison term, claiming Perske ‘‘has an affinity for drugs as he purchased cocaine on three previous occasions.’’

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