‘Enemy of society’ jailed for 6 years

Press, 7 August 1982, Page 4

‘Enemy of society’ jailed for 6 years

Persons who dealt in class A drugs constituted a serious social evil and had to be regarded as enemies of society, Mr Justice Hardie Boys said in the High Court yesterday. His ■ Honour sentenced Terry Ivan Ormandy, aged 33. a food bar proprietor, to six years imprisonment on a charge of 'importing 11.140 tabs of the hallucinogenic drug, LSD. into New Zealand at Auckland. He was found guilty by a jury last week.

Evidence was given at Ormandy’s trial that the police planted three bugs - miniature radio transmitters - in the lounge, kitchen and telephone of his home in Shirley. For .almost a month a 24hour: listening watch was maintained by the police and all conversations were recorded.

The police, dressed in jeans, overalls and similar casual clothing, made five entries into the house while the occupants were absent to install, check, and remove the listening.devices. They got in through ' an unlocked door and the windows.

.Tape recorded ' evidence was produced for the first time in the Christchurch High Court during the trial.

The evidence was obtained under a warrant issued by Mr Justice Casey pursuant to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

At the trial Messrs G. K. Panckhurst and P. A. Boyce appeared for the Crown, and Messrs M. A. Bungay, of Wellington, and G. R. Lascelles for Ormandy. Mr Bungay said that his instructions were unusual in that Ormandy acknowledged his guilt and told him to outline the role he had played in the importation of the LSD, and if necessary, to call evidence. It was only intended that LSD should be imported but Murray James Ritchie had brought in cannabis and cocaine as his own enterprise.

Five persons were involved in the importation of the drugs and Ormandy’s' part was to put up $2500 for the air fare and a further $lOOO. He had not organised the venture and for his own safety he could not say who did.

The arrangement was for Ormandy to go to Auckland to see if the importation was successful and if it was to telephone the code words John Watkins to a Christchurch address but not to his own and that was why they were never picked up on the police monitoring devices at his house.

Some 11.000 tabs of LSD were involved and in bulk they would have sold from $3.50 to $4 each but when broken down into small amounts their street value would have been greater. The importation would have realised $40,000 and' with a profit of around $9OOO Ormandy would have made about 300 per cent on his investment.

Ormandy was no professional or Mr Big of the drug world as had been suggested but a rank amateur. He was naive in the extreme; Any professional would have kept as far away as possible from the action.

It was Ormandy who had purchased the air ticket to the United States, then he flew to Auckland and booked into a motel under the name of Ritchie, all of which were the hallmarks of a rank amateur.

There was no suggestion that Ormandy was a man of

wealth. The evidence showed that he would have to sell many of his valued possessions to purchase the house property he , had shown, an interest in.

That did not indicate that he was expecting a sudden windfall from the sale of a vast quantity, of drugs. A good family man, Ormandy had three children, the youngest of whom, was only a year old. He had ability’ in the artistic field and had made a success of leather dealing in Australia.

“With more maturity and less greed Ormandy could make a good life for himself and his family. It was a stupid exercise and he must have known the risk he was running. He did not organise anything. The contact in the United States was arranged by another person,” Mr Bungay said. His Honour said that it was unusual for someone who has pleaded not guilty and put the country to the expense of a trial for a week to then acknowledge through counsel that he was guilty all along. . “I suppose that it has been done now is to your credit. It is a tribute to the efficiency of the police and the good sense of the jury that that guilt was established. “You chose to involve yourself in a substantial commercial operation, with' more than 11,000 tablets of LSD with a bulk value of between $35,000 and $40,000 and with a street value of very much more than that,” said his Honour.

Ormandy must have appreciated the risks and known the consequences of failure. He choose to take the gamble because the profits would be high. It was a tragedy for a man of Ormandy’s ability, to allow his desire for quick money to have such a hold on him, especially when he had a young family. From the evidence it was obvious that his wife was well aware of what was happening and they both gambled with their own and their children’s future. Persons who dealt in class A drugs constituted a serious social evil and they had to be regarded as the enemies of society. Ritchie had been sentenced to six years imprisonment on

charges of importing LSD. cocaine and cannabis but Ormandy had been convicted of importing, only LSD and the question was whether he should be treated any differently from Ritchie. The Crown case was that Ormandy was the organiser and Ritchie was only the courier. Obviously Ormandy’s activities had aroused suspicion well before this importation was arranged and he had played a role further than just arranging the finance, his Honour said.