R v Jones [2014] NZHC 2578 (15 October 2014)

Last Updated: 8 December 2014

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND ROTORUA REGISTRY

CRI-2012-070-4753 [2014] NZHC 2578

THE QUEEN

v

_{TERRENCE WILLIAM JONES}

Hearing:	15 October 2014
Appearances:	H A Wrigley for Crown C G Tuck for Prisoner
Sentence:	15 October 2014

_{SENTENCE OF KEANE J}

Solicitors:

Crown Solicitor, Tauranga

R v JONES [2014] NZHC 2578 [15 October 2014]

[1] Terrence Jones you are for sentence, having been found guilty at trial for three offences: conspiring between 7 – 9 December 2012 to manufacture methamphetamine at your Katikati address; wilfully attempting on 9 December 2012 to defeat the course of justice by destroying evidence; and earlier, on 27 November

2012, offering to supply methamphetamine.

[2] Your most serious offence is the conspiracy and, in sentencing Mr Goldsbury, I held that it was given effect on 8 – 9 December and that the likely yield, had manufacture been completed, must have been towards 250 grams at least. I have held Mr Goldsbury and Mr Carroll accountable for their parts. I must now sentence you for yours.

[3] I must also sentence you for your related offence for which I have held Mr Goldsbury accountable, your wilful attempt to destroy evidence. That will call for an uplift in your sentence. I do not regard the offering to supply offence as in the same category.

Crown submissions

[4] The Crown contends that for your part in the conspiracy I should take a starting point in the range, given the sentences I have already imposed, of two and a half - three years imprisonment.

[5] You and Ms Farrow, the Crown says, must have become implicated no later than the morning of 7 December, when you and she exchanged texts and agreed to remain silent. You then played an indispensable part in the conspiracy in the sense that you allowed your property to be used. And you vacated it to allow Mr Goldsbury a free hand over the night of 8 December.

[6] The Crown also contends that you assisted in other ways. On the night of 8

December you collected several bags of ice from a nearby service station, and ice plays a part in manufacture. On the morning of 9 December you assisted Mr Goldsbury, in Mr Carroll’s place. You rode your bicycle around the property to check whether anybody was watching. You moved property from one end of the

building to the other. Then, once the AOS made its presence plain and you could not escape, you attempted to destroy evidence.

[7] As to that related offence, the attempted perversion of the course of justice, the Crown contends for a cumulative sentence of 12 – 18 months, even though for that offence I imprisoned Mr Goldsbury cumulatively for 12 months. The Crown contends that the totality principle does not assist you to the same degree.

Defence submissions

[8] Your counsel, having regard to my findings, does not dispute that a starting point for the conspiracy, recognising your part in it, might be in the range two – two and a half years.

[9] He points out in his submission that you were dependent on Mr Carroll for work and you were living hand to mouth. He submits that when you permitted your home to be used you were well out of your depth. You then lost everything when you committed your related offence.

[10] Your counsel points to your positive pre-sentence report and your lack of significant previous convictions. But he accepts that you are beyond the range of sentence where a sentence of home detention is a possibility.

Conclusions

[11] I accept that you are primarily accountable for allowing your address to be used for manufacture and that, if that had been all you did, that might warrant a starting point in the vicinity of two years. However, you went further.

[12] As well as vacating your home with Ms Farrow, you purchased the ice. More materially, you appear to have helped Mr Goldsbury in the manufacture itself not long before the AOS intervened; and, most materially, you attempted to destroy evidence.

[13] As to the conspiracy, I take a starting point of two and a half years imprisonment, because you played a lesser part than Mr Carroll. But a cumulative sentence of 12 months must be imposed for the perversion of the course of justice offence. That results in a three and a half year sentence, subject to this. In your case also, I reduce that total sentence by three months.

[14] Strictly speaking it is irrelevant that you were the victim of your own offending, more especially as others were. But that, as well as the positive things that are said about you in your pre-sentence report and the importance you play in the life of those close to you, I think justifies that three month reduction in your case also.

[15] On that basis I sentence you for the conspiracy to two years, three months, and impose cumulatively a 12 month term for the perversion of justice attempt. The result is an effective sentence equivalent to that I imposed on Mr Carroll, three years, three months imprisonment.

[16] There remains the question of reparation. I have victim impact statements. But they cannot, by themselves, suffice and, in any event, I accept that you lack any

_{means to meet reparation even if it were ordered.}

P.J. Keane J