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Home / New Zealand

Drug kingpin's pregnant partner jailed

NZME.
14 Apr, 2015 05:53 AM3 mins to read

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Sophia Wilson had a 'crucial role' in her partner's dealing, the court heard today. Photo / NZ Police

Sophia Wilson had a 'crucial role' in her partner's dealing, the court heard today. Photo / NZ Police

The heavily pregnant partner of a drug kingpin has been jailed after spending five months on the run with him.

Sophia Leigh Wilson, 25, was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to two years and two months imprisonment after being found guilty at trial of possessing a Class B drug for supply.

The mother of one was on bail during the trial, which stemmed from police's Operation Jericho, and home detention looked a likely outcome until she fled with boyfriend Zebulin Mario Davoren.

The pair went on the run in October and Davoren - the ringleader of the methamphetamine operation - was only found last week in Hamilton.

He will be sentenced next week and is expected to be jailed for at least 14 years after fellow "executive director" Henry Afakasi received that sentence.

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Search warrants linked to his group uncovered enough pseudoephedrine to make methamphetamine worth $2 million, a kilogram gold bar, more than $500,000 in cash and 10 expensive motor vehicles.

The court heard how Wilson only had a limited role in the large-scale drug operation but Justice Susan Thomas said it was still a "crucial one".

"You were neither a mastermind nor an instigator. It's accepted you were at the bottom end but that's not to say your role was a minor one.

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"Without people like you who are willing to assume the significant risk, the supply lines of methamphetamine would dry out," she said.

On June 30, 2012, while her partner was in Queenstown cooking meth, Wilson picked up pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient in the manufacture of P - from an address and sold it to an associate for $20,000.

Justice Thomas said the precursor substance could have made up to $135,000 of methamphetamine.

Wilson was described by probation as a "positively motivated and intelligent young woman" and her father also wrote a letter to court in support.

He said she was "gentle, kind and honest" and offered to provide a residence for her to serve a home detention sentence.

However, Justice Thomas said Wilson - who had no previous convictions - had not taken responsibility for her offending.

"You were explicitly warned, should you breach your bail there would be no outcome of home detention. You did so flagrantly by staying on the run for five months," she said.

"It would send completely the wrong message if I overlooked your disdain for orders of the court."

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