Two jailed for making meth

When Hewitson was arrested in September 2003 he was at the stage where he was becoming addicted to the drugWayne McKeandefence lawyer
Two Whangarei men have been convicted at the Whangarei High Court and sent to jail for manufacturing methamphetamine. Justice Nicholson last week sentenced Karl John Hewitson, 32, to three years jail and Mark Rogers, 36, to two years and six months in jail on a variety of drugs charges. Hewitson and Rogers had been jointly charged with possession of substances to manufacture methamphetamine in September 2003. They both pleaded guilty to the charge.
Rogers also pleaded guilty to charges from September 2003 of possessing materials to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of cannabis for supply.
Hewitson also pleaded guilty to charges from 2003 of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of equipment to manufacture methamphetamine and one of manufacturing methamphetamine in August 2004.
Police searched Rogers' property on September 1, 2003 where they found chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, also known as P, and other substances used in the drug's manufacture, a glass pipe used for smoking methamphetamine and 60 gms of cannabis.
Police also found a full methamphetamine manufacturing kit on the back of a ute belonging to Hewitson at the property.
In a search of Hewitson's property in Whakapara on August 2, 2004 police found a full kit to manufacture methamphetamine in bushes near the house and various chemicals used to make the drug.
Two grams of methamphetamine, digital scales, a police scanner and two full packets of cold and flu medication, the source of pseudoephedrine used to make the drug, were also found.
Hewitson told police he had cooked the drug four times in the past eight months, making two grams on each occasion.
Crown prosecutor Bernadette O'Connor said an aggravating feature in Hewitson's case was his re-offending while on bail for his 2003 charges. "It was on different occasions and at a different location," Miss O'Connor said.
She argued that Hewitson should receive cumulative sentences for his offending.
His defence lawyer Wayne McKean said when Hewitson was arrested in September 2003 he was at the stage where he was becoming addicted to the drug. "He found himself in the position where he had this addiction and needed to satisfy it," Mr McKean said and argued Hewitson's sentence for the offending should be concurrent.
Miss O'Connor said Rogers had a number of previous convictions for drug offences in the past eight years including manufacturing cannabis oil and offering to supply class B and C drugs.
Rogers' defence lawyer Murray Gibson said there was no indication that the cannabis was for supply.
"He had an addiction that may have lead him to use all of that amount himself," Mr Gibson said.
He said Rogers had a "fairly heavy" addiction to cannabis.
Mr Gibson said Rogers had not been in trouble with the police since his arrest in 2003.