Lawyer jailed for two years on heroin charge
PA Auckland A qualified lawyer covered his face in the High Court at Auckland yesterday as the Judge dashed his hopes for drug rehabilitation away from jail. John Neil McLean, now a Whitianga orchardist, was jailed for two years, after he admitted possessing heroin for supply, and fined $5OOO. As Mr Justice Tompkins said courts must deter others from the drug trade, with severe penal-
ties, McLean slumped on to the dock and put his head in his hands. Defence counsel, Dr Rodney Harrison, said McLean, aged 41, had been making good progress in an Odyssey house programme to shake his 17-year drug addiction. It would not be a “soft option” if the court sentenced him to supervision on that programme, Dr Harrison said. McLean now felt shame and regret for his former
life-style. The, Judge said McLean was caught on May 19 with 23gm of relatively high-grade heroin, worth an estimated $28,200, which he claimed was for his own use and for two acquaintances. “You are a qualified lawyer; you must have known when you decided to trade in heroin the very grave risk you were running, and you must have decided it was worth it,” the Judge said.
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Press, 29 September 1988, Page 12
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208Lawyer jailed for two years on heroin charge Press, 29 September 1988, Page 12
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