Just before Christmas last year the owner of the property on which the bach was located called the police for help with evicting Leckie, who had taken up residence without permission, the police summary said.
He had been asked to leave, but refused to go.
The property owner gave police permission to enter the bach for the purpose of evicting him and removing his property.
When they arrived on the morning of December 23 last year, there was no one present and the bach had been padlocked shut.
Police gained entry and found personal items of a nature which suggested the small cottage had been lived in for some time.
It smelled strongly of cannabis, prompting closer inspection, and the police found a large amount of dried cannabis in one of the bedrooms.
They also found a loaded double-barrel shotgun under a blanket behind the couch.
A small amount of methamphetamine was found in a bag nearby.
It was during the search that Leckie arrived back and admitted to the police he owned all the items, and that he bought and used two-and-a-half points of methamphetamine each week, and smoked cannabis daily.
He told the police the reason he had the firearm was because he’d pestered a friend to lend it to him so he could shoot goats.
In the Nelson District Court today, Judge Richard Russell was satisfied there was nothing sinister around the firearm being in Leckie’s possession.
His lawyer Tim Spear said a lot of the cannabis found was for Leckie’s own use, for medicinal purposes.
He was convicted and remanded for sentence in May.
