Nguyen was 23 at the time, and had no previous convictions. He told a probation officer he got involved in the offending “due to financial commitments”.
He and his partner have since had a baby.
Nguyen’s role in the dealing was uncovered when police were conducting an investigation into cannabis dealers in the Hawke’s Bay area.
It found that some of them were driving to Auckland to buy cannabis in various amounts from Nguyen, who is now in prison.
The others involved were not named in a High Court decision dealing with Nguyen’s appeal against his jail term.
However, it said the Hawke’s Bay investigation was wound up on July 21, 2023, resulting in a number of arrests.
Police find 18kg of cannabis, $120,000 in cash
Three days later, police with a search warrant raided Nguyen’s home in Auckland.
They found 18kg of cannabis plant and $120,000 in cash in a small room, and about 1.7 grams of MDMA in Nguyen’s bedroom.
When police asked him how long he had been dealing in cannabis, Nguyen told them “a few months since April” and declined to comment further.
Police charged Nguyen with participating in an organised criminal group, possessing cannabis plant for sale, possession of MDMA and – initially – 16 separate charges of selling cannabis.
Those 16 charges were later consolidated into one representative charge covering the 11 sales between May and June 2023 represented by 68.48kg of cannabis.
Nguyen then pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Manukau District Court to two years and 10 months in prison.
He appealed against that sentence to the High Court, saying the judge’s starting point for calculating his sentence was too high, and he should have been given a greater discount for previous good character, youth and rehabilitative prospects.
He also said he should have received a bigger discount because his imprisonment will prevent him meeting his responsibilities as the father of a baby.
Justice David Johnstone said, however, that the sentencing judge could have set a higher starting point for calculating the jail term.
Although Nguyen should have received larger discounts for his youth and lack of previous convictions, “the generous starting point meant that the end point reached was within the available range of appropriate sentences”.
Justice Johnstone dismissed the appeal.
“Clearly, sales of the quantity [of cannabis] described required one or more substantial cultivating and distribution networks to sustain it,” the judge said.
Justice Johnston agreed with the sentencing judge that “naivety and vulnerability to poor decision-making” appeared to have played a part in his offending.
“Mr Nguyen’s lack of previous convictions, even at the modest age of 23, spoke to some level of good character [but] that was undermined by the nine-week period of his large-scale cannabis dealing.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
