Dean McArthur Keown says drug dealing has brought financial ruin, heartbreak for his family, and ongoing fears for his personal safety.
The 56-year-old began a five year five month jail term at his sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch today.
His arrest followed police secretly intercepting a shipment of 10,000 ecstasy tablets in a car aboard a Cook Strait ferry bound for the Christchurch market.
Keown had arranged the deal with a member of an international drug syndicate in Auckland.
Defence counsel Michael Starling told the sentencing judge, Justice Christine French: "When Keown and the driver were finally charged it was somewhat of a relief for them both."
Keown had apparently bought the drugs on credit and owed $210,000 for them, which he had arranged to pay when the shipment was sold.
The pair had to do some explaining about the missing drugs, and Keown arranged a third shipment of 4000 tablets to try to make enough money to pay back his suppliers.
Crown prosecutor Kerryn Beaton said it was accepted that Keown was not the ultimate seller for the drugs, but described him as "a vital middleman or wholesaler".
The court was told he had arranged the pick-up, and organised the payment and transport of the drugs, for $1 per tablet.
He pleaded guilty to charges of possessing the class B drug for supply, and selling it over a three-month period in 2008 before the police operation ended with a series of raids and arrests on July 27.
Two co-offenders have already been sentenced. Others charged are to be tried in the High Court in Auckland next year.
Justice French reduced Keown's jail sentence because of his guilty pleas which had come after the depositions hearing, but more than a year before the scheduled trial.
Police estimated the street value of the drugs shipments for which Keown was charged was between $840,000 and $1.12 million.
She said Keown had significant personal tragedies in his life. His wife had died of cancer 24 years ago and his long-term partner had died three years ago. His business had failed. His previous convictions included supplying cannabis in 2003.
He had told the pre-sentence report writer that he had got involved in drugs because of the prospect of easy money, and there seemed little likelihood of being caught.
In a letter to the court, he said his involvement in drug dealing had caused heartbreak for his family, financial ruin, and fears for his physical safety.
Justice French jailed him for five years five months, but declined the crown submission that a non-parole term should be imposed.
