Bullying excuse of Australian bodybuilder

Brenton Dowell, an Australian bodybuilder, was caught possessing and illegally importing great quantities of anabolic steroids in March 2011. It was determined that these steroids could be sufficient to be applied for more than sixty years by one user. A lot of people believed that this bodybuilder would be sentenced to imprisonment. But Brenton Dowell avoided imprisonment successfully.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service noticed that this bodybuilder had attempted to import more than 3 kg of testosterone powder. The packages with the raw steroid powder were mailed in September, October and November 2011. They were directed to three various places: to Dowell’s home, to his father and his stepfather.
Actually, such large amounts of raw powder could be ordered 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, claimed that the steroid powder had been purchased for his client’s self-administration. He added that Dowell’s usage of steroids was a response to bullying attacks that he received, when he was an overweight child. Thus, according to Len Harnett, Brenton Dowell became addicted to bodybuilding and started to utilize steroids because he was an overweight kid.
The judge Graeme Hicks was impressed by affirmations of the defense attorney Len Harnett who described experiences of Dowell in his childhood. He noted that it could be concluded that Brenton Dowell had become obsessed by bodybuilding.
Thus, 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 usage and for sales to his friends in order to pay off personal use.
The bodybuilder Brenton Dowell was enforced to pay a fine of 10, 000 dollars and to serve 2-year probation.