A former acting head of the Justice Department is facing the private tragedy of having a son in the prison system he once managed.
Mel Smith, now an Ombudsman, was in the High Court at Wellington on Wednesday to support his eldest son, Brent.
Brent Andrew Smith, 41, was jailed for two
years nine months on methamphetamine charges.
Mr Smith senior said yesterday that his son's position was a disaster.
"The whole family has been devastated by this."
Mr Smith has held a number of senior Government posts, including Deputy Secretary for Justice and group manager of corrections.
He was Acting Secretary for Justice, acting head of the Ministry of Social Policy, and Deputy Secretary of Internal Affairs.
In 1998, he was appointed to review court security, in response to a fatal stabbing at Palmerston North District Court.
His role as Ombudsman sometimes involves looking at prisoners' complaints but Mr Smith said his son's imprisonment was not likely to affect his work.
He had been dealing with the prison environment for many years. He had no difficulty standing aside if there was any conflict of interest.
At sentencing, the court was told Brent Smith had been desperately short of money to keep his panelbeating business going.
Defence lawyer Robert Lithgow said Smith never changed his dream of making a go of his business, but saw drugs as a way out of a financial mess.
Smith was an intelligent man who would take the steps necessary to make sure he did not reoffend, Mr Lithgow said.
Justice Forrest Miller said the evidence pointed to Smith, 41, running a small-scale operation. The drugs had a street value of about $3000.
Smith, of Titahi Bay, pleaded guilty to supplying methamphetamine, trying to make the drug, and possessing it.
The judge said that in August Smith tried to use ephedrine - a stimulant Smith had left over from when he had been a wrestler - to make methamphetamine.
He was arrested and freed on bail, but in September police found him with just over 1.15g of methamphetamine and a list suggesting people owed him money for drugs.
Smith said he had had the drug since April, when he accepted it as payment from a customer.
Justice Miller said Smith chose to make and sell methamphetamine for commercial reasons and rationalised it by saying he was only selling to people who were already using it anyway.
- NZPA
A former acting head of the Justice Department is facing the private tragedy of having a son in the prison system he once managed.
Mel Smith, now an Ombudsman, was in the High Court at Wellington on Wednesday to support his eldest son, Brent.
Brent Andrew Smith, 41, was jailed for two
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.