R v Dronsfield
[2021] NZHC 3042
•10 November 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND CHRISTCHURCH REGISTRY
I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA ŌTAUTAHI ROHE
CRI-2020-009-007656
[2021] NZHC 3042
THE QUEEN v
LEVI CHEYENNE DRONSFIELD
Hearing: 10 November 2021 Appearances:
K A White for the Crown
J D Lucas for the Defendant
Sentencing:
10 November 2021
SENTENCING REMARKS OF NATION J
[1] Mr Dronsfield, you understand don’t you that I have had written submissions from Mr Lucas and from Ms White for the Crown so I know what they were arguing could happen in this case and Mr Lucas has made a number of points for you. I have also had the pre-sentence report, which I hope you have seen, which provided me with a lot of information about you and where you are at at the moment. So, it is on the basis of all that I have been able to think about 10 what I need to sentence you for.
[2] Mr Dronsfield, you appear for sentence having pleaded guilty to one charge of cultivating cannabis.
[3] On 19 September 2020, the Police executed a search warrant at your house on unrelated matters and located 12 cannabis plants in the garage. The total weight of the
R v DRONSFIELD [2021] NZHC 3042 [10 November 2021]
cannabis seized from the garage was 6.21 kgs. You admitted to growing the cannabis and said all 12 plants belonged to you.
[4] Both your counsel and counsel for the Crown accept this sort of cannabis cultivation is towards the bottom end of category 1, as set out in R v Terewi.1
[5] For the Crown, Ms White acknowledged that offending of your sort will often attract a fine. That is consistent with other cases referred to me that have come before the High Court.2
[6] Terewi was decided in 1999 before enactment of the Sentencing Act 2002. With the Sentencing Act, there is a presumption in favour of the use of fines whenever a fine would constitute sufficient punishment for the offence and it is within the means of the offender to pay it.3
[7] Your counsel, Mr Lucas, acknowledges that, with you having fines already totalling $12,000, a fine may be inappropriate. The pre-sentence report also tells me you do not have regular employment at this stage but are hoping to establish your own business.
[8] Now, I am not satisfied you have the means to pay a fine. I also consider that the rehabilitative purposes of a sentence now need to be a priority and those purposes will be better achieved through the imposition of another sentence.
[9] Mr Dronsfield, you are now aged 28. You have a significant criminal record going back to when you started appearing in the Youth Court. You were sentenced to imprisonment for the first time in 2010 when you were just 17. In April 2012, you were sentenced to imprisonment for two years and two months for a series of offending including burglary, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, possession of an offensive weapon and dishonest use of documents. Not long after that sentence, you were
1 R v Terewi [1999] 3 NZLR 62 (CA).
2 Walters v Police [2021] NZHC 63; Marshall v Police [2019] NZHC 2304, Riches v Police [2017] NZHC 2035; Parker v Police HC Wellington CRI-2007-485-150, 27 February 2008.
3 Sentencing Act 2002, ss 13(1) and 15.
sentenced to imprisonment again for two years for burglary convictions. In all, you have five previous sentences of imprisonment.
[10] Of concern is that you have a conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm in 2016. Additionally, on 19 March 2018, you were sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment on three charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and one charge of supplying cannabis, imposed on a concurrent basis.
[11] You have had community-based sentences in the past where Judges and probation officers no doubt hoped you would be able to benefit from programmes and efforts to get you on the right path and avoid further offending. You breached home detention conditions in 2018 and breached Court release conditions in 2015. You had to be sentenced for breaching a community work sentence in 2017. You also have convictions for driving while disqualified.
[12] So, Mr Dronsfield, it looks like you have previously had the chance to make some changes in your life, but things have not worked out for you and you have continued to offend.
[13] Recently, all of that led to you being in a situation where you were at risk of being involved in something very serious, that could have had very serious consequences for you. That has not happened, and that means you now have the chance to really make some changes so that you do not have to be put in prison again.
[14] The pre-sentence report says you do not want your three children to follow the same path as you but the probation officer says, to do that, you will have to really change the way you live and the people you associate with. You also recognise that you use cannabis to an extent that is harmful for you and those close to you. The pre- sentence report tells me that you acknowledge that the majority of the people you associate with are gang connected and your alcohol and cannabis use has caused problems for you in your relationship. All that affects the way you can be a father to your three children. Your pre-sentence report tells me that your partner is committed to your relationship, has noticed changes in your attitude over the last year and wants to help you build on that.
[15] The pre-sentence report says the preference is for a significant rehabilitative focus and strong on-going support for you at a potential turning point in your life. Corrections want the opportunity to work with you to help you try and achieve the changes you need to make. The detail of the information in the pre-sentence report indicates that they want to and will commit to working with you closely to help you make changes. So, their recommendation is for you to be sentenced to intensive supervision and community detention.
[16] You have pleaded guilty to this charge. I give you credit for that and acknowledge that, although you did not plead guilty to the charge immediately, that was because you were facing other charges which had to be dealt with first.
[17] You did spend a little over two months in prison. You were then on electronically monitored (EM) bail from November 2020 to September 2021, a period of 10 months, but that related primarily to the other charges you faced which were eventually withdrawn. The fact you were initially remanded in custody and then on EM bail shows you just how close you come to being in a situation that could have been much worse for you. I hope that will give you the motivation to make the changes that you need to.
[18] The Crown submitted that a sentence of intensive supervision and community detention, as recommended by the probation officer, would be appropriate. Your counsel, Mr Lucas, said the emphasis on any sentence should be on rehabilitation so that you can receive the assistance you need to deal with your drug issues. He argued that you should not face a further punitive sentence such as community detention because of the time you spent initially in custody and then on EM bail.
[19] Normally, if a person was to be sentenced by way of a community-based sentence for cannabis cultivation such as yours, there would have to be a punitive element associated with it. But, in your particular circumstances, there has been an element of punishment through you being remanded in custody and on EM bail on charges that were subsequently withdrawn. It was your involvement with those matters that led to the Police discovering these cannabis plants.
[20] Mr Dronsfield, I want you to make the most of the opportunity you now have to make some major changes in your life and deal with your drug problems and, with that, to get away from the associations you previously had that put you and others at risk. So, I am not going to sentence you to community detention. I consider that, to make the most of the programmes that you should take part in and the support that should be available to you through Corrections, the sentence should be one of intensive supervision.
[21] It will be a condition of the sentence that you are not to possess, consume or use any alcohol or drugs not prescribed to you. You are going to have to work hard with probation to ensure you can comply with that condition.
[22] One of the standard conditions of intensive supervision is that you will not associate with a person or people who a probation officer has, in writing, directed you not to associate with.4 You have said you recognise the way you have been at risk through the people you have associated with in the past. So, with this standard condition, there is the potential for you to work with the probation officer to make sure that potentially dangerous associations do not continue. The Court expects you and Corrections will work together to make the most of this opportunity.
[23] On the charge of cultivating cannabis, you are convicted and sentenced to intensive supervision for a period of 15 months, on standard conditions and with the following special conditions:
(a) firstly, not to possess, consume or use any alcohol or drugs not prescribed to you;
(b) secondly, to attend and complete an appropriate alcohol and drug programme to the satisfaction of a probation officer. The specific details of the appropriate programme shall be determined by a probation officer;
(c) thirdly, to attend an assessment for a departmental programme as directed by a probation officer. To attend and complete any counselling, treatment
4 Sentencing Act, s 54F(1)(i).
or programme as recommended by the assessment as directed by and to the satisfaction of a probation officer; and
(d) fourthly, undertake and complete appropriate assessment, treatment/counselling as directed by and to the satisfaction of a probation officer.
[24] The address which you must initially reside at, as recommended in the pre- sentence report, is […].
Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, Christchurch J Lucas, Barrister, Christchurch
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