Court delays amid review of P-dealing penalties

Shane Thompson being sentenced in June last year to 13 years in jail, thought to be the biggest methamphetamine penalty imposed in a Hawke's Bay Court. PHOTO/FILE

At least two Hawke's Bay sentencings of people for methamphetamine dealing are being deferred pending a Court of Appeal decision on a review of a guideline decision on penalties.

A man charged with possession for supply and a woman charged with supplying methamphetamine over a period of about 6 months last year were separately remanded in custody to appear again on June 21, when they appeared in Napier District Court on Tuesday. Each had pleaded guilty.

Another woman charged with supplying small amounts of methamphetamine last year but who has not yet pleaded was remanded to appear on May 22 to consider a sentence indication.

The Court of Appeal sat last month as a full bench of five judges to reconsider the decision known in courts as Fatu, dating back to 2006.

The review was told that evidence does not support long-term detention as an effective deterrent.

Based on the precedent set 13 years ago, quantities of methamphetamine are prominent in sentencing factors, but it was argued in the Court of Appeal levels of harm and the degree of the roles played by individuals could be more prominent in the calculations.

It was also suggested that in 2006 the court could not have envisaged the greater quantities that would be involved in modern-day offending, up to the 60kg as in one of the six cases being considered in the review.

The maximum penalty possible for methamphetamine supply in New Zealand is life imprisonment, the same as for murder. In 2017 a man was sentenced to 28 years and 6 months' jail.

The biggest sentence in Hawke's Bay is thought to have been the 13 years jail imposed in June last year on Hastings man Shane Thompson who headed a major operation which has led to several other people also being jailed, including 30-year-old Petera Gamlen, sentenced to 11 years and three months.