Drug dealers judged dopey lot

The lure of cash and "a lack of intellect" entangled eight people in a national drugs network based in Tauranga.

Yesterday, those who helped convicted drug dealer Bryan Slight enlarge his drugs empire were given sentences in the High Court at Rotorua that ranged up to seven years' jail.

Justice David Morris said they were, for the most part, lesser players in a drugs business that police monitored through cellphone conversations and surveillance videos in 1999.

"Slight was the kingpin ... Without you and people prepared to act as you have done, major players such as Slight would wither and die," he told the defendants.

Slight was sentenced in October to 9 1/2 years in jail on charges that included producing heroin and dealing LSD, methamphetamines (speed), morphine and Ecstasy.

Sickness beneficiary Deborah Jane Leyland was sentenced to three years in prison for supplying methamphetamines, Ecstasy and morphine, and selling cannabis.

Justice Morris described her as "a poor soul" under the dominance of Slight. The mentally ill woman was so trusting that she gave him her cash card to withdraw money from her account on benefit day. She was promised an aeroplane trip to a Hare Krishna temple in exchange for her help in distributing cannabis and still believed after the arrest that she would get the trip.

Lilly Waipouri, a performer, said she had been under the illusion that her business dealings with Slight concerned printed clothing and not drugs.

She was sentenced to four years in prison for supplying LSD and methamphetamines and the possession of cannabis for the purpose of sale.

Justin de Serville, who has a degenerative bone disease, was sentenced to four years' prison for conspiring to supply morphine and Ecstasy. Justice Morris said the man's obvious intelligence, which set him apart from the others, meant he knew the consequences of his involvement with Slight.



John Leslie Harper, labourer, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for offering to supply speed on behalf of Slight. He began taking drugs at 15 and lived on the streets before starting a business that failed.

Airoe Clarkson, who has an immune system illness, kept electronic diaries of his dealings with Slight, using the names of his daughters as a cover. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for supplying LSD and selling cannabis.

Paul Jackson, who has custody of his five-year-old daughter, got a two-year suspended sentence and nine months periodic detention for offering to supply speed. Justice Morris said he was concerned that a prison sentence would affect Jackson's child.

Aaron Kevin Jones, bobcat operator, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and nine months periodic detention for conspiring to supply LSD and cultivating cannabis. Peter Vincent Back, painter, was also sentenced to 2 1/2 years prison for conspiring to supply LSD.