Admin error helps drug man avoid jail

Confusion about the seriousness of a methamphetamine charge has allowed an Invercargill man to escape jail time.

Trent Leslie West, 21, appeared before Judge Kevin Phillips in the Invercargill District Court yesterday for sentence on eight charges of possessing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride-based tablets for the manufacture of methamphetamine between July 13 and August 17 at Queenstown and Lumsden.

When West was convicted in the same court on October 8, Judge Graeme Noble told him to prepare for a term of imprisonment.

He was referred to yesterday's crown sentencing date because of the perceived seriousness of his charges.

However, when West appeared before Judge Phillips, the police appeared as prosecution, rather than a Crown solicitor, because the charges had been laid summarily  a less serious level of offending.

When asked by Judge Phillips why the police were prosecuting a case the Crown should be handling, police prosecutor Sergeant Grant Gerken was unsure.

Judge Phillips speculated an administrative error was to blame. "I think what's happened here is the file has had a police cover-sheet put on it. It may have come from the same word processor.''

Judge Phillips told West that if the charges had been indictable (a higher level of offending) the "end point'' for his sentence would have been 12 months' jail. "But I'm limited by the way the charges have been laid against you ... it's the only thing stopping you from going to prison today.''

The court was told how West made two road trips from Invercargill to Queenstown, buying codral tablets at pharmacies along the way. West had also bought up to 40 packets of the pills in Invercargill, Judge Phillips said.

"You're what we might call a professional shopper,'' he said.

"I consider this offending to be serious. Without pseudoephedrine, the (methamphetamine) cooks cannot operate ... and the success with which you carried out your shopping is a concern.''

Judge Phillips sentenced West to six months' home detention.

He urged the police to take more care when processing cases of this nature.

- © Fairfax NZ News