Ex-boxer Joseph Blackbourn spared jail due to rehab efforts, sentenced to home detention

Joseph Gerard Blackbourn after his sentencing in the Wellington District Court, where he admitted to a raft of drugs charges. Photo / Catherine Hutton

A former boxer who picked himself up off the mat and fought his biggest opponent to date - drug addiction - not only won praise from a district court judge, but it has also spared him from jail.

“I realistically cannot see what else you could have done to make amends and engage in the rehabilitation process,” Judge Bruce Davidson told Joseph Gerard Blackbourn as he was sentenced on drug and weapons charges in the Wellington District Court on Friday morning.

Once a boxer who represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games, the court heard it was sport that brought Blackbourn out of poverty, but also sent him spiralling back into the depths of addiction.

Blackbourn grew up in a house with a father who had gang connections and was in and out of jail, and his mother had mental health issues. He was exposed to drugs, alcohol and family violence and attended 12 primary schools.

When he was a teenager, he found boxing and turned his life around. But his lawyer David Young said it was the death of his mentor and boxing coach Russell Oliver that left him a broken man and facing the charges he was in court for.

The 39-year-old appeared for sentence on a raft of drugs charges including possession of supplying methamphetamine, supplying cannabis, ecstasy and fantasy-type substances. He was also charged with possession of cocaine, cannabis and offensive weapons in the form of two tasers.

The charges arose from two property searches and an associated search of his phone.

The first search in September 2022 was conducted after Blackbourn was found at a vacant house in the Wellington suburb of Upper Hutt.

Inside the house police found a brown cooler bag, containing various controlled drugs, worth about $11,000.

These included a speaker, which had been hollowed out and held four plastic bottles containing various amounts of methamphetamine. They also found a bottle of moisturiser that was hiding two bags of the same drug. There was also a point bag containing .53g of cocaine and a clear sandwich bag containing cannabis.

Following his arrest, Blackbourn’s phone was seized and searched revealing further evidence of drug dealing involving methamphetamine, ecstasy, gamma butyrolactone and cannabis.

During a subsequent search of Blackbourn’s house in May the following year, police found a safe in the garage. Inside, police found five zip-lock bags containing about 140g of methamphetamine, valued at $70,000. There were also bundles of cash, totalling $50,000, as well as digital scales.

In the garage police found two tasers, including one disguised as a torch.

Joseph Gerard Blackbourn after his sentencing in the Wellington District Court, after admitting a raft of drugs charges. Photo / Catherine Hutton.

Judge: Rehabilitation the best thing you’ve ever done

“I have no doubt that in late 2022 and mid 2023 you were in crisis and the arrest on these charges and your rehabilitative efforts are the best thing you’ve ever done,” Judge Davidson said.

Blackbourn checked in to an Auckland-based rehabilitation facility, which described his efforts as extraordinary.

Young said his client was well aware he had done wrong, and took full responsibility for his actions.

“To his credit, Mr Blackburn has picked himself up off the mat and fought off his biggest opponent to date, his addiction,” Young said.

While jail was on the cards, Young suggested this was a rare case where the court could take into account his client’s rehabilitation efforts and remorse. If the court was prepared to take a lenient approach, home detention might be available, Young said.

Crown prosecutor Sebastian Hartley accepted home detention was an option, saying that was a decision for the judge.

Hartley acknowledged the need for rehabilitation sat alongside the need for denunciation and deterrence.

Judge Davidson said locking people in prisons was extremely expensive.

Home detention was less expensive, but it would also allow Blackbourn to remain with his wife and children and continue his rehabilitation.

In Blackbourn’s case, he would be jailed for a year before being released on parole.

“I see no purpose in that; it would undo all the good work you have done,” the judge said.

Acknowledging this was a rare case, Judge Davidson sentenced Blackbourn to 10 months’ home detention with the conditions he attend any alcohol and drug programme as directed by his probation officer and was not to possess or consume alcohol or illegal drugs.

He also ordered the forfeiture of the cash and the destruction of the drugs and tasers.

Judge punched

At the end of the sentencing, when Blackbourn had left the dock, a man charged forward from the public gallery and ran towards the judge’s bench.

Kicking over a trolley, he approached a shocked Judge Davidson, punching him once on the left arm. He was heard yelling that he wanted to go back to the cells, before he was wrestled by court security and taken to the cells.

NZME understands the man was not connected with Blackbourn’s case and had appeared in court yesterday morning, following his arrest.

Judge Davidson called a short adjournment before court resumed.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.