R v Cavanagh

Michael Joseph Cavanagh was sentenced by the High Court of New Zealand on multiple charges, including the supply of a controlled drug, money laundering, possession of firearms, and obtaining a driver's license and passport under false identities. Cavanagh pleaded guilty to these charges, which stemmed from his involvement in the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine in Auckland. The court had to determine the appropriate starting point for sentencing, the uplift for additional and previous related offending, and the applicable discounts for plea and personal circumstances.

The court determined that Cavanagh's lead offence, the supply of ephedrine, warranted a starting point of seven years imprisonment, placing it in the second band of offending as per the Court of Appeal's guidelines in R v Wallace and Christie. The court also imposed an 18-month uplift for additional offending and a nine-month uplift for previous related offending, resulting in a total sentence of nine years and three months. After applying discounts for plea, personal circumstances, and recall, the effective sentence was reduced to five years and ten months, to be served concurrently with the defendant's existing sentence.

The final orders of the court included the imposition of a minimum term of imprisonment of half the five year, 10 month sentence, and the withdrawal of other charges faced by Cavanagh at the time of his plea.