R v Rawlinson HC Auckland CRI-2009-070-1557

[2010] NZHC 2381

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

CRI-2009-070-1557

THE QUEEN

v

CHRISTINA DAWN RAWLINSON

Hearing:         10 December 2010

Appearances: for the Crown

A C Balm for the Prisoner

Judgment:      10 December 2010

SENTENCING NOTES OF ELLIS J

Solicitors:      Crown Solicitors, PO Box 2213, Auckland 1140

Counsel:       A C Balme, PO Box 13079, Tauranga 3141

R V RAWLINSON HC AK CRI-2009-070-1557  10 December 2010

[1]      Ms Rawlinson, you appear for sentencing today, having pleaded guilty on

12 August 2010 to 20 methamphetamine related charges - seven counts of conspiring to supply methamphetamine, 11 counts of offering to supply methamphetamine, and two counts of supplying methamphetamine.  As I am sure you know the maximum sentence for conspiring to supply methamphetamine is 14 years imprisonment, and the maximum sentence for offering to supply methamphetamine and for supplying methamphetamine is life imprisonment.

Facts

[2]      Along with a number of other people, you were apprehended as a result of an extensive police operation code named Operation Bird.  Intercepted telephone calls and text messages indicated that you were in frequent contact with the principal offender Mr Tawhiri. They also indicated that you were a regular supplier of methamphetamine, that you regularly purchased commercial amounts of methamphetamine, and that you acted as a source for Mr Tawhiri when his own supplies were short.

[3]      I have read reproductions of the communications giving rise to the charges against you. There is no need to draw out the sentencing process by reciting the details.    It  is  enough  to  note  that  they  disclose  the  nature  and  extent  of  your offending - over the 55 day interception period, your counsel accepts that the Crown can prove that you offered to supply 3.75 grams, actually supplied 1.5 grams, and conspired to supply some 11.6 grams of methamphetamine.   When the police searched your address, they also located a set of scales, three empty zip-lock bags, and a methamphetamine pipe.

[4]      You were arrested on 28 April 2008 and first arraigned on 4 June 2009, at which time you entered not guilty pleas. You were re-arraigned on 12 August 2010 and pleaded guilty.

Personal Circumstances and Pre-Sentence Report

[5]      The pre-sentence report says that you are 33 years old.  You were adopted by New Zealand European  parents and see  yourself as a European New  Zealander though  you believe  your birth father to be Samoan.   You state that you had a troubled childhood because of cultural identity issues and that you dropped out of school in the fourth form.  Although you have a long history of drug offending, this is mostly cannabis related, and it is only in recent years that you became addicted to methamphetamine.  You are the mother of a 16 year old daughter who currently lives with your parents, a 14 year old son, who was adopted out some years ago, and a six year old daughter.

[6]      You are (or have been) addicted to drugs and gambling.  To your very great credit you have voluntarily entered Odyssey House to address your drug addiction and have reached level four now in that rehabilitation programme. In that respect I also record that you have the support of Odyssey House representatives here today.

[7]      You have said that at the time of your offending you did not consider what you  were  doing  as  commercial  dealing  but  I  accept  that  you  may  see  things differently now and that you are not trying to make excuses for what you did.  I also accept that you are sorry.

[8]      Because of the progress you have made at Odyssey House the pre-sentence report recommends a sentence of two years intensive supervision but the writer of the report acknowledges the reality of your situation which is that a term of imprisonment is virtually inevitable.   Unfortunately your past history of non- compliance with community based sentences does not really help you in this respect.

Analysis

[9]      In sentencing you today there are certain matters I am required by law to take into account.   In your particular case there has to be recognition of the harm that methamphetamine  offending  does  to  the  community.    Your  own  experience  of

addiction means that you know just how terrible methamphetamine is and the hurt that it causes not only to addicts but to everyone around them.

[10]     I also need to denounce your conduct and try to help you take responsibility for what you have done.   I need to try to deter not only you but other people from doing this kind of thing in future.   However I also consider that the possibility of rehabilitation is a very important consideration in your case and I am conscious that I must impose upon you the least restrictive sentencing outcome available.

[11]     I am  going  to  take  the  supplying  methamphetamine  charges  as  the  lead offences for the purposes of setting a sentencing starting point.  In that respect I note that the Crown can only prove that you supplied 1.5 grams.  However, as is often the way in cases like this it is very difficult for the Crown to produce clear evidence about precise volumes and values.  It is clear for sentencing purposes that the safer course is to deal with the volumes as known but to consider those volumes in the context of the established wider pattern of dealing.

[12]     In fixing a starting point I also take account of the fact that you are one in a line  of  people  who  have  already  been  sentenced  for  their  part  in  the  criminal activities with which you were involved.  I need to take account of the sentences that they received.  Mr Castle had imposed upon him a sentence based on a three and a half year starting point where 1.75 grams were involved.  Donna Kissling was linked to 4.1 grams of methamphetamine and the starting point adopted for her was three years and four months.  Mr Frazer’s starting point was two years and nine months where the established amounts were between 0.9 and 1.1 grams.  Mr Jacob’s starting point was four and a half years for 4.99 grams.   Mr Jacob was described by the sentencing Judge as a “regular and persistent dealer” whose dealing was commercial although designed in part to subsidise his own habit.     Mr Tawhiri’s starting point was six years.   The sentencing judge said he was the “epicentre of a wide and reasonably lucrative business” and he was involved at all levels of manufacturing, and  the  volumes  of  methamphetamine  involved  there  were  between  30  and  60 grams.

[13]     Your lawyer, Mr Balme, submits that an appropriate sentencing starting point for your offending is in the region of four years imprisonment.   He says that you should be given a discount in the region of 15 per cent to reflect your guilty plea. And it is my sense that the Crown does not fundamentally disagree with that.

[14]     But the Crown asks me to adopt a somewhat higher starting point of between five   and   five   and   half   years   imprisonment,   based   on   the   quantity   of methamphetamine that it can be proved you were dealing in, the commercial nature of  what  you  were doing,  the  frequency of  your  communications  with  your co- accused, and the sentences that have been imposed upon them.

[15]     In my view the nature and extent of your activities place you at the bottom of what is known as band two in relation to the sale or supply of methamphetamine. Band 2 offending generally requires a starting point of somewhere between three to nine years imprisonment.   That is a big range.   Of your co-accused, I agree with Mr Balme, it is probably Mr Jacob with whom you can most fairly be compared. Although I accept that your offending was largely the result of your own addiction, that cannot be regarded, as you said, as an excuse for dealing.  The reality is that you were profiting from the misery of others.   You were in my view a mid-level commercial street dealer who worked closely alongside Mr Tawhiri in sourcing and supplying methamphetamine.  So I consider that a four and a half year starting point is called for.  That must, in my view, be uplifted by six months to reflect the totality of your offending giving a five year total starting point.

[16]     In terms of factors that are personal to you that might cause me to increase that starting point, I note your previous convictions, especially for cannabis offences between 1994 and 2002.   However you have no previous convictions for offences involving methamphetamine.   Given that your cannabis offending occurred some time ago and its limited relevance to the current offending, I do not propose to further uplift your sentence on that account.

[17]     I turn now to consider factors in your favour. I have accepted that you are beginning to appreciate the significance what you have done and the harm you have caused although I do not give that great weight.  But as I have said, your voluntary

admission into Odyssey House is commendable and shows you have a determination to address your addiction.  If you continue along the path you have had the strength to begin yourself I have genuine hopes that you will recover and that rehabilitation is a real possibility.  Your guilty pleas also count as a positive factor, as is accepted by the Crown.   In light of all these matters my view is that a one year discount from the starting point of five years is appropriate. This would give a final sentence of four years imprisonment.

[18]    Although the pre sentence report recommended a sentence of intensive supervision, as I have said, I do not think that is a something that is open to me in the circumstances of your case.  I think Mr Balme accepted the difficulty with which the Court was faced in that respect.

[19]     Could you please stand up now Ms Rawlinson.

[20]   Your  final  sentence  on  each  of  the  two  counts  of  supplying methamphetamine is four years imprisonment.

[21]     On each of the 11 counts of offering to supply methamphetamine I sentence you to four years imprisonment

[22]     On each of the seven counts of conspiracy to supply I sentence you to three years and 9 months imprisonment.

[23]     All of those terms of imprisonment are to be served concurrently which means that the end sentence is four years imprisonment.

[24]     I also make a strong recommendation to the prison authorities that they do whatever they can to assist you to build on the rehabilitative steps you have already taken.   I sincerely hope that you are able to pick up the pieces of your life and eventually return to your children a healthier and stronger person.

[25]     Please stand down.

Rebecca Ellis J