Whangārei former motor sport champion Justin Rood denies possessing Class C drugs

The John St, Whangārei, property where police found 15 pills containing the Class B drug Benzylpiperazine (BZP). Photo / Tania Whyte

A Whangārei gym manager and former world motor sport champion is in court fighting charges of possessing a Class C drug.

Justin Dean Rood, is on trial in Whangārei District Court, where he has pleaded not
guilty to possessing the Class C drug Benzylpiperazine (BZP). Rood, who was D1NZ drifting champion in 2004 and now manages a gym, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis and possessing cannabis seeds at the start of the trial.

Police searched the John St property where Rood lives and works on July 24, 2020 and found two cannabis seedlings hidden under a bathroom vanity, a ripped-out seedling in a bin and a number of cannabis seedlings.

In Rood's bedroom they found a cup, which contained a yellow Kinder Surprise plastic egg. Inside the egg were about 15 pills. Testing found they contained BZP.

In his opening remarks to the jury defence lawyer Arthur Fairley the issue was whether the Crown could prove that Rood knew what was in the pills and had control over them.

Rood told the court yesterday said he found the pills in the pouch behind the front seat in a Toyota Corolla car he bought six or seven years ago.

He said he didn't know what they were and put them away, thinking that he may ask somebody what they were as he was curious to find out.

Rood, who repairs vehicles in the John St property, which is behind Anytime Fitness Gym, said he often came across things left in cars he was fixing.

He said although he had forgotten about the pills since, in hindsight he should have thrown them out when he found them.

Under cross-examination from Crown Prosecutor Nicole Jamieson Rood acknowledged that he had moved the pills around the property and that they were in his bedroom, of which he was the only occupant.

Whangārei gym manager and former world drifting champion Justin Rood has denied possessing Class B Drugs.

He acknowledged that the pills were found on top of a makeshift dresser in his room that he regularly went into, but said he did not really notice what was in the paper cup atop the dresser.

The lawyers will present their closing addresses to the jury today, before Judge Duncan Harvey sums up the case and sends the jury out to consider their decision.