Mentally impaired man who imported methamphetamine gets home detention

The four-wheel suitcase Northlander David King brought from South Africa that contained nearly 2kg of methamphetamine. Photo/Supplied

A Northlander who fell for a scam and imported nearly 2kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand has escaped a prison sentence because of mental impairment.

David King was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland to 12 months' home detention on one charge of importing methamphetamine. He was earlier found guilty by a jury.

The court ruled the 62-year-old Whangārei man's offending was because of mental impairment caused by a stroke.

A stroke in 2001 left him with a significant physical disability: paralysis of the left side of his body and the almost total loss of the use of his left arm.

In December 2015, he received an email from a Reverend van Cabin that someone with the same name as King had left a substantial inheritance which would be released if he travelled to South Africa and signed some documents. That would enable him to receive $15m.

King initially thought it was a scam but decided to travel when international flight tickets sent by the Reverend were confirmed as genuine by the airline.

During the three-week stay in South Africa, King said he was in the care of a "Ms Elizabeth", an associate of the reverend, and was provided with accommodation, transport, and excursions.

On one excursion, she took him shopping and insisted he buy clothes for himself and gifts to give to others in New Zealand where the Reverend would later meet up with him.

Upon King's return to Auckland, Customers found 1960 grams of meth, with a purity of about 46 per cent and a street value of $2 million, hidden in a compartment that could only be accessed by cutting his bag open.

Before the search, King said he packed the bag himself and knew the contents. After meth was discovered, he said Ms Elizabeth had packed the bag for him.

A report prepared for the court after the jury verdict said King had significant brain damage, poor short-term memory, and exhibited poor judgment as a result of suffering from neurocognitive disorder.

"In your evidence at trial, you explained how on at least two previous occasions you lost significant sums of money to email scams asking for an up-front payment for which you would receive a substantial sum in return," Justice Gerard van Bohemen said.

While the imported meth was of a commercial quantity, the judge said King's eye was on the illusory prize of the inheritance scam.

"It is open to question whether you knew you had become a player in a drug ring and whether you knew the people with whom you were interacting were involved in the international drug trade.

"I have no doubt that the reverend and his associates took full advantage of your gullibility in persuading you to go to South Africa, to hang about for the best part of three weeks while they put in place the arrangements to obtain and secrete the
methamphetamine," Justice van Bohemen said.