Donation from millionaire criticised as 'lip service'

Convicted multi-millionaire drug user David Henderson has been told to put his money where his mouth is if he is seriously remorseful.

Henderson, said to be worth $30 million from his Auckland property development business, received a suspended sentence on Tuesday after he admitted trying to buy cocaine.

He asked for a discharge without conviction because of the impact a conviction would have on his business but this was refused.

Henderson said he would stand by a pledge to donate $10,000 to a drug treatment centre.

The sentencing judge, Simon Lockhart, QC, said the evidence in the case led to an "inescapable conclusion" that Henderson had used cocaine before he had tried to buy it from a supplier he knew well enough to call twice.

Pauline Gardiner, chief executive of the WellTrust, a drug and alcohol group for teenagers, said $10,000 was nothing to a man worth $30 million.

She said a residential programme for a teenager cost $17,000 and his $10,000 offer would not even cover that.

In the 12 months from July last year the trust had 560 referrals and would probably hit 600 this year.

Two years ago it had 250 teenage clients with drug problems.

Ms Gardiner said Henderson should visit the WellTrust, one of the country's largest drug centres for teenagers, and see how frustrating it was to have a growing list of drug-affected youth with an average age of 12.

Henderson was overseas yesterday and not available for comment but Kitchener Group chief executive Chris Aiken called on Ms Gardiner to contact them personally if she had genuine concerns.

"Pauline Gardiner has not approached David Henderson with any proposition to support her trust. We are currently considering offers from people who are talking to us privately and not through the media, and we suggest if Mrs Gardiner is genuine she would come to us directly."

Ms Gardiner said the $10,000 donation was lip service. "It doesn't mean anything. It means diddly squat. We are under threat of closure because we can't get enough money ... and you have someone in his position squawking after the event, 'Oh woe is me, my business could go down the drain because I have done a silly thing and got caught'.

"You get someone like him at the top of society trumpeting that he is so sorry and now that he has made this big mistake at 51, and we have got kids with an average age of 12 who make stupid mistakes that ruin them for the rest of their life."

Mr Aiken said the Crown - not Henderson - had suggested making the donation.

"David's response is being considered and the people who are considering it as beneficiaries don't believe it is diddly squat. We've had two or three people who have come to us and said what a fantastic opportunity to benefit from your genuineness."

He said Henderson regularly gave "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to charities.

Auckland drug rehabilitation trust Higher Ground said it would welcome a $10,000 donation and had no criticism of the amount.

"I think it would be great if any [alcohol and drug] service got that money," said programme director Stuart Anderson.