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A Zimbabwean drug-dealer involved in a huge importation of Ecstasy into New Zealand has had a year cut from his 12-year sentence by the Court of Appeal.
Robert Charles de Bruin, 53, was found guilty by a jury in May last year, with former Mr Asia figure Darryl Leigh Sorby, on five counts of importing MDMA worth more than $3 million, hidden in furniture from South Africa.
While de Bruin succeeded in getting a reduced sentence, he did not persuade the appeal court judges to overturn his conviction.
He also failed in his appeal against a $1 million penalty order imposed by the sentencing judge, Justice Mark Cooper, in the High Court at Auckland in August.
The appeal judges lopped 12 months off de Bruin's term to provide greater parity with Sorby's nine-year sentence.
De Bruin has developed terminal lung cancer in jail, but the judges said his medical condition could not reduce his sentence.
That was a matter that could be addressed by the Parole Board, which could grant an early release on compassionate grounds.
In one of the court hearings, de Bruin, now an Australian citizen, spun an elaborate tale about belonging to an anti-terrorist unit in his former Rhodesian homeland.
He claimed he was rewarded for his gun-running efforts by being given a ranch which he managed to convert into 35 uncut diamonds which he later smuggled into New Zealand. He said he was able to sell the diamonds over 18 months for about $1 million.
However, his claims were rejected by his former wives, and the officer in charge of the case, Detective Stephen Peat, labelled him a fantasist.
Police found $379,240 in cash at de Bruin's house in Riddell Rd, Glendowie. The $435,000 purchase price of the house was paid in cash.
Apart from $15,000 provided by de Bruin's former de facto partner, who had nothing to do with the drugs, the appeal judges found it was impossible to avoid the inference that the property was bought with cash from de Bruin's offending.
Since the purchase, the property had increased in value to around $750,000.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the Crown that the sentencing judge was correct to include the increase in assessing the financial penalty.
The court ruled that de Bruin's former partner should receive 3.5 per cent of the sale of the property to reflect her share of the house.
A $1 million penalty order was also imposed on Sorby by Justice Cooper at last year's sentencing hearing.
Police found large sums in his possession and there was evidence that more than $1 million had been buried on a property next to his.
That money has never been recovered. When police searched the property, all they found were holes in the ground.
- NZPA
