Drugs have once more landed Lorraine and Aaron Cohen, famously freed from a Malaysian jail after facing the death sentence for drugs charges, behind bars.
The mother and son were today jailed for drug offences after a hearing at the High Court at Auckland.
In September, Lorraine Phyllis Cohen, 58, admitted charges
of conspiring with others in August last year to supply morphine sulphate, possession of the drug for supply, and conspiring with others to supply methamphetamine (speed).
In October, Aaron Shelton Cohen, 35, was found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to manufacture heroin, conspiracy to supply morphine sulphate, conspiring to supply methamphetamine, possessing the drug for supply, possessing methadone for supply, possession of cannabis, conspiring to import cannabis seeds, and offering to supply cannabis.
The Cohens were both jailed for four years by Justice Priestley.
Also sentenced today were Anne Patricia Carroll, 48, and Susan Ruth Alty, 42.
Carroll was sentenced to two years' prison on charges of conspiring to sell a class B drug and granted leave to apply for home detention.
Alty, who faced a charge of supplying a class B drug, was sentenced to nine months' prison, suspended for 12 months.
The Cohens spent 11 years in jail in Malaysia before being pardoned and sent home in June 1996.
Aaron had originally been sentenced to a 20-year jail term for trafficking 34.16g of drugs.
Lorraine, a self-confessed former prostitute and heroin addict, was sentenced to death for trafficking 140.7g of drugs. Her sentence was later changed to life imprisonment before the pair were pardoned.
The mother and son were arrested for the offences at the International Airport in Penang, in 1985.
Aaron released a book about his life in April last year, claiming he wanted to clear up misconceptions about what had happened to him.
- NZPA
