Heroin smugglers get total of 17 yrs

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34031, 20 December 1975, Page 3

Heroin smugglers get total of 17 yrs

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, December 19. A man and his de facto wife were sentenced to 11 years and six years gaol respectively for the import of heroin worth more than sl.sm when they appeared before Mr Justice Henry in the Supreme Court at Auckland today.

Joyce Elizabeth Larsen and Brian ( olenson Wareham, both aged 45. company directors, of Christchurch, were found guilty of importin'* the narcotic at Auckland on October 12. They had denied the charge. [ Passing sentence, his; I Honour said he wanted to; Lsound a warning to other, 'drug traffickers, and that the courts ought to look at; I maximum terms of imprisonment, for if this were; (not done, drug trafficking would continue. The Court had previously i heard that customs officers; ifound the heroin in false-; I bottom suitcases in the pos-[ ;session of Mrs Larsen. His Honour told the pris-i oners that they were; engaged in trafficking that had dire consequences in human misery. The traffic could lead to the death of; heroin addicts, who were in-; creasing in number. Bangkok trip “One can only say that if | nothing is done at all, or if; insufficient penalties are; given, transactions like this ; I will increase,” he said. The Court had heard that

the two prisoners had taken a trip to Bangkok, where they met another man who ; is awaiting trial on a similar charge in Christchurch. Counsel for Wareham said that incarceration would be a continuous nightmare for i his client, who was a lively [outgoing and healthy type of person. He said that he had been informed by medical authorities in Auckland that there had been an increase in heroin use in the last few months. The reason for this, was that because of the high penalties for marijuana offences marijuana had been difficult to obtain and that some persons had used heroin as a substitute. “Through the widespread publicity in our press it is I known to most New Zealanders heroin can be easily obtained in Bangkok and that if the alleged market ; value of this narcotic, as given by the police experts lis believed, then large pro-i fits are obtainable.” It was his submission that

ixmore emphasis should be ( e given, especially at governj ment level, for exposing the, j r[ countries of Burma, Thailand, and Laos, for their - lipart in this trade. el He pleaded for mercy for ] r Wareham, and submitted ( y that he was not one of the I . prime persons involved in [ the importation. 1 Counsel for Mrs Larsen t ' said that it was hard to ? imagine a person such as 1 her committing such a ■' serious crime. She had suf- i ' fered two unsuccessful mar- ' 1 riages, the death of a son, s ' and now her unsuccessful ’ 1 relationship with Wareham. ( She had nothing to do 1 with the deal and counsel < I submitted that she had be- ( ■come a selected courier. (The Court had heard in ! evidence that Mrs Larsen ‘ I thought she might have been 1 t carrying uncut stones.) ; Counsel said that she felt ; ; a bitterness towards the j ■i other man awaiting trial in j Christchurch and she was a t ; Crown witness in this case. (