A Napier store owner who escaped conviction for selling a non-approved psychoactive substance without a license says he made a "stupid mistake", while a local councillor hopes the case will serve as a warning to others prepared to break the law.
In the first prosecution of its kind in Hawke's Bay, Vigor Brown Street Store owner Xinbaio Zhang, was charged with selling a non-approved product without a licence and selling a psychoactive product from an unauthorised place.
Mr Zhang, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to the two charges after he sold a packet of Kryptonite to an undercover agent commissioned by the Ministry of Health on September 27. The offence took place just two days after the psychoactive substance was banned by the Ministry of Health.
He escaped conviction after Judge Tony Adeane found in the Napier District Court on Wednesday, that because of the timing of the incident the adverse consequences of a conviction would outweigh the level of offending.
The 51-year-old's lawyer argued a conviction would affect his chances of becoming a New Zealand citizen.