Australian judge accepted bullying excuse and gave light sentence to bodybuilder that imported 3 kg of testosterone powder

Brenton Dowell, a bodybuilder from Australia, was caught possessing and illegally importing great amounts of anabolic steroids in March 2011. It was defined that these steroids could be sufficient to be administered for over sixty years by a person. Many individuals believed that this bodybuilder would be sentenced to imprisonment. But Dowell avoided imprisonment successfully.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service noted that the bodybuilder Brenton Dowell had tried to smuggle more than 3, 000 g of testosterone powder. The packages that contained the raw powder were mailed in September, October and November 2011. They were shipped to three various places: to the home of Dowell, to his father and his stepfather.
In fact, such large quantities of raw testosterone powder could be bought only for manufacture of anabolic steroids by underground labs for selling them on the black market. 3, 000 g of raw testosterone powder could be used for preparing of 1500 10-ml vials with ready drugs.
Len Hartnett, the defense attorney for Brenton Dowell, argued that the testosterone powder had been bought for his client’s personal usage. He added that Dowell’s administration of steroids was a response to bullying attacks which he received, when he was an overweight kid. So, according to Len Harnett, Brenton Dowell became addicted to bodybuilding and started to administer steroids because he was an overweight child.
The judge Graeme Hicks was influenced by affirmations of the defense attorney Len Harnett that described experiences of Dowell in his childhood. The judge Graeme Hicks mentioned that it could be concluded that Brenton Dowell had become obsessed by bodybuilding.
So, the judge accepted bullying excuse. Based on the descriptions and arguments of the defense attorney, the judge Graeme Hicks concluded that the bodybuilder Brenton Dowell had bought steroids personal intake and for sales to his friends in order to pay off personal usage.
Brenton Dowell was sentenced to a fine of 10, 000 dollars and 2-year suspended sentence.