Identity of high-profile drug accused kept secret

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The row over name suppression of prominent offenders has been reignited after a high-profile businesswoman, who has admitted supplying the drug P to her dying ex-husband, won a last-minute bid to keep her identity secret after becoming aware of media interest in her case.

The woman has admitted buying methamphetamine on four occasions but says she only ever gave it to her ex-husband. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer late last year and had been bedridden before dying early this year.

The case comes hot on the heels of the controversy about a well-known entertainer winning permanent name suppression after committing an indecency on a teenage girl.

In the latest case, the woman arranged the transactions by text message and made payments through a TAB betting account. In total, she bought 33g of the drug and police recovered a small amount of methamphetamine or "P" crystals, pipes for smoking P and electronic scales when they raided her home.

She claims the paraphernalia belonged to her latest partner and she gave the P to the dying man when he asked for it, because he was in pain, couldn't get out of bed and wanted to spend quality time with his loved ones in his final days.

"He was distraught and desperate and I was going to do anything it took to try and help him. It was not something I wanted to do," she told the court.

Her lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, is applying to the Auckland High Court for a discharge without conviction. It is understood the Crown will ask for a prison sentence, arguing her ex-husband was not the only person she supplied the drug to.

The woman has not had name suppression since her arrest in April but when she appeared for sentencing last week, Gotlieb asked for it when he saw the Sunday Star-Times in court. Despite reservations from Justice Ailsa Duffy and Crown prosecutor Bruce Northwood, Gotlieb will formally apply for name suppression at a hearing next month. In the meantime, interim suppression was given. Sensible Sentencing Trust's Garth McVicar says lawyers will continue to try for name suppression as long as they know that "it's far too easy to get".

"People have got to be accountable and take responsibility for their actions. This whole name suppression thing has just gotten out of kilter... It's too easy and the defence lawyers realise that they can cream it, so why wouldn't they?"

He says that as the debate around the issue gains momentum, his trust will be making proposals to the government. He hopes to see name suppression looked at by a select committee by next June and tighter rules in place by the end of 2010.

Legal experts say it is unusual for defendants to get name suppression once they have pleaded guilty to an offence. Associate Professor Scott Optican of Auckland University's law faculty said he did not believe in name suppression – unless in very specific circumstances – and not when the defendant has admitted the crime. "It offends the principles of open justice."

The case comes days after the Law Commission released a report recommending an overhaul of New Zealand's name suppression system to make it harder for offenders to keep their names secret. Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer said had the report's recommendations been adopted prior to the high-profile entertainer's case, his name would not have been permanently suppressed. An attempt by a senior Crown lawyer to appeal the suppression order was blocked by the solicitor-general.

Optican says one consequence of the musician's name being secret is that "everyone is going around saying who is it, who is it...?".

The Auckland woman made a tearful plea to the judge not to convict her.

"I understand that I'm totally guilty of purchasing methamphetamine but I'm absolutely in no way guilty of supplying in the sense that I sold it to anyone for money... I'm sorry."

When asked about the small amount of crystals found by police in a compartment of her wallet, she said: "Of course [it's mine], it's in my wallet, but from a very long time ago.

"I have used it in a party situation a few times but I would not call that a user. Myself and my friends, myself and my husband, everybody does in a party situation, for example ... but not on a regular basis."

The court heard she had the drugs delivered to her home and took them to her ex-husband, who was in a different part of the country.

The woman will be sentenced next year.

leigh.stoep@star-times.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News