Tears as woman sent to prison

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 4

Tears as woman sent to prison

Tears streamed down the cheeks of an attractive young woman with a small bunch of yellow freesias pinned to her dress as she left the dock after being jailed for two years on a drug charge in the High Court yesterday and her mother sobbed in the public gallery. Caroline Edith Forsyth, aged 21, an unemployment beneficiary, had pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to a charge of dealing in LSD, a class A drug, and was committed to the High Court for sent ence.

The police statement said that in May a bugging device to record conversations was installed in a house in Ruby Bay, near Nelson. As a result of those recordings Forsyth was interviewed on July 30.

She said that she had travelled to Christchurch on May 8 where she had sold some 600 tablets for between $l2 and $l4 each, receiving about $7OOO, of which $6OOO was paid to her supplier.

She said that it had been a “one off opportunity which had been put in front of her and which seemed too good to pass up.

While she had the LSD tablets she had been terrified of being discovered.

She had no intention of ever dealing in illicit drugs again, the police statement said. Mr Michael Bungay, Q.C., of Wellington, for Forsyth said that early this year his client had been doing casual sea-‘ sonal work in the Nelson district.

She had difficulty in getting accommodation. She had moved into a

house occupied by David Jarvis and looked after a young child. She knew that Jarvis had been involved with cannabis, but she was not aware that he was also associated with hard drugs. After Forsyth finished her seasonal work, the couple drove to Christchurch and on the way Jarvis told her that he had a large quantity of LSD and she foolishly agreed to help him sell this.

On arrival in Christchurch Jarvis learned that he was under police surveillance and he immediately returned to Nelson leaving Forsyth with 600 LSD tablets to dispose of.

Because she was expected to pay for the tablets she could not destroy them. She was out of work and was in financial difficulties. With the $lOOO she received, Forsyth went to stay with her parents in Wellington.

One reference described Forsyth as having a long way to go to grow up and as being naive. She came from a good supportive family and was absolutely devastated by the situation she had got herself into. She had brought disgrace to herself and to her family. The probation report stated that Forsyth was unlikely to re-offend. Her court appareance had resulted in her maturing very rapidly. She had readily admitted the offence and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. To her regret, Forsyth, a rather simple person, had got into bad company and fallen under the influence of an older and more experienced person. Her method of selling the

LSD made it inevitable that she would be detected, Mr Bungay said.

He asked that she be treated as an exceptional case. Imprisonment would achieve nothing for her and would have a disastrous effect on her future. Mr Bungay asked for clemency for his client. Mr Brent Stanaway, for the Crown, said that the Court of Appeal had indicated that persons who dealt in more than 100 tablets of LSD should attract a jail term of between three and four years.

The deterrent aspect of the sentence had to be considered.

The two main aggravating factors in the offence were the number of tablets sold in lots of 10 and the substantial number of transactions, Mr Stanaway said.

Mr Justice Holland said Forsyth was entitled to credit for admitting the offence as soon as she was approached by the police, and for pleading guilty. He accepted that she had come under the domination of a drug dealer. Because of the enormity of the offence, he could not yield to counsel’s submissions on penalty or that she had been left with the large quantity of LSD on her hands without previously having agreed to sell it.

She was not a drug addict who was driven to commit the .offence to feed her craving. She had done it purely to make money. This was not one isolated deal, but she had not instigated the offence. He could have little regard for Forsyth’s personal circumstances, said his Honour.