Two "naive" drug dealers who thought they were selling tablets of ecstacy when in fact it was benzylpiperazine (BZP) were sentenced to four months' home detention when they appeared in the Alexandra District Court yesterday.
Cory John Hurring (20), builder, of Lowburn, and Kezia Rose Bowden-Turner (21), vineyard worker, of Cromwell, pleaded guilty to a joint charge of selling a class C controlled drug, BZP, to an unknown person over the age of 18 between December 4 and December 8 last year. They also admitted possessing BZP.
The pair had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy for supply but yesterday they vacated their pleas, the charges were withdrawn and new charges laid, which listed the drug as BZP, not ecstacy.
Judge Colin Doherty said it was ironic the duo thought they were selling a Class B drug - ecstasy - when in fact it was a Class C drug, BZP.
A person had offered to sell them the tablets and they bought 25 tablets for $20 each, selling them for $40 each. Later, they bought another 75 tablets, sold 40 and kept 35 for their own use.
"The two of you 'fessed up early on and were co-operative with police," Judge Doherty said.
He described the pair as naive and ordered the forfeiture of $800 cash seized by police.
"It's a classic case of getting caught up in this because you thought there was easy money in it," he said.
A prison sentence was the starting point as a penalty for low-scale drug dealing.
Although the offence was premeditated, there was some naivety about the operation. The pair could "expect nothing less" than a sentence of home detention.
"If that impacts on your employment, so be it; that's one of the consequences of dealing in drugs," Judge Doherty said.
Counsel for Hurring, Sarah Saunderson-Warner, said it had been described by police as an unsophisticated operation.
Hurring was in the second year of a building apprenticeship and she submitted a sentence of community detention would be appropriate.
Counsel for Bowden-Turner, Russell Checketts, said the two defendants had been in a relationship for some time. Bowden-Turner's involvement in the matter started when she "tagged along" with her partner.
The shame and embarrassment of having her name published in connection with the matter was a major punishment for her and her family, he said.
