Television celebrity and former All Black and Kiwis league international Marc Ellis says he is sorry for letting himself down after he admitted a drugs charge in court yesterday.
He was fined $300 when he appeared in Auckland District Court on a charge of possessing the class B drug ecstasy. He
was caught in what police called a white-collar drug ring which also named another former sporting star Brent Todd on charge sheets involved with the case.
Todd has yet to be charged although police said he would probably also face a drugs count when he returned to New Zealand.
Yesterday Ellis, dressed in a dark suit and tie, told the court through his lawyer Robert Fardell, QC, he was extremely sorry and had let himself and others down.
"His remorse is quite unequivocal," Mr Fardell told Judge Bernard Kendall.
Prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch, told the court Ellis, 33, and another person went to a third person's home to buy the drug. They were told by a man at the house he had some tablets he described as "beautiful."
That man, who has also been charged with drug offences but who has name suppression, asked if they wanted 10.
Ellis spoke to his unknown associate and the pair agreed they wanted 10 tablets. The man agreed to sell 10 tablets for $60 a tablet. Ellis and his associate left and payment was subsequently made.
Ellis later told police he had bought five ecstasy tablets for his own use.
Judge Kendall said it was the first time Ellis had been before the court on a criminal offence. The maximum penalty was three months in prison or a $500 fine or both but the appropriate penalty was a fine and not a jail term.
* Ellis last night resigned from the board of the juice company Charlie's Group Limited, following his conviction.
The Chairman of Charlie's, Roger Gower, said Ellis had offered the board his resignation, and the board had accepted it.
