A 31-year-old Napier mother of three has been spared a jail sentence for dealing in synthetic cannabis but warned if she does it again she'll be taken away from her children for "months if not years."
The warning was delivered by Judge Geoff Rea in Napier District Court yesterday, at the appearance of the woman and a 42-year-old man who had each pleaded guilty to two charges stemming from their arrest in a police bust in Napier three months ago.
Each faced one charge of possessing a non-approved psychoactive substance and one of possessing the substance, which Judge Rea, avoiding the tongue-twisting legal definition of the substance, called "this muck."
Jonelle Mae Chapman was sentenced to nine months' intensive probationary supervision and six months' community detention, involving a curfew from 9pm to 7am. Abraham Bell Aranui was further remanded for sentence on January 16.
In a rare outcome, Chapman will be able to serve the detention at her home in Russell Rd, Marewa, from where illegal dealing in synthetics had been taking place, according to evidence police obtained before executing a search warrant on August 24.