Two years jail for importing heroin

Press, 16 April 1986, Page 4

Two years jail for importing heroin

PA Wellington A computer programmer, Peter Michael McAuley, aged 30, had been told he was expected to assist in getting some heroin to New Zealand for one of the leaders of a band, his counsel Mr Christopher Ruthe, told the High Court in Wellington.

He was making a plea in mitigation of sentence for McAuley, who had been committed to the High Court after pleading guilty in the District Court to a charge of importing heroin.

Mr Justice Jeffries jailed McAuley for two years. Mr Ruthe said the importation was arranged in Australia. McAuley had been involved in music and the production of records on radio stations, and had been asked by a band coming to New Zealand to produce “a live record.”

“He telephoned to Australia concerning that matter,” Mr Ruthe said, “and was told he was expected to assist in getting some heroin to New Zealand for one of the leaders of the band who was totally dependent on the drug. “His role was, of course, very foolish in agreeing to accept that drug, and he arranged for it to be delivered to an address next to his own in Wellington. He was then going to go with the drug to Auckland to supply that

member of the band,” Mr Ruthe said.

McAuley emphasised he was not involved in any way in purchasing the heroin, nor had he intended in any way to deal in it or sell it, Mr Ruthe said. He emphasised it was a single importation and there was no question of it being part of a wider matter. His Honour said that McAuley was an intelligent, even talented man, who he was sure, before the advent of illegal drugs would have lived his life

without any involvement with the criminal law. “The several references that have been made available to the Court, medical and psychological reports placed before me, persuade me that those remarks are correct and emphasise again the tragic effect upon people like yourself in using drugs,” he said. “I further accept that in spite of your apparently long-time use of drugs, you have not involved yourself in any other criminal activity.”