Anti-drug activist used home to make P

A mother who lectured the community about the dangers of "P" used her house as a drug lab and allowed her severely disabled nine-year old son to watch on.

Renae Stroobant, 33, was convicted of possessing precursor substances for the manufacture of methamphetamine, possession of utensils for manufacture and allowing her premises to be used to make the drug.

In the High Court at Auckland yesterday she was sentenced to 1 year and 11 months in prison.

However her sentence was deferred for two months so she can apply for home detention to care for her son.

Her co-offender William Gundry, 55, who was found guilty of manufacturing the methamphetamine, was sentenced to five years in jail.

Stroobant, who says she gave up taking methamphetamine in 2003 and took to talking to community groups about its dangers, has a severely disabled son.

The boy has left hemiplegia. The left side of his body is severely disabled as a result of a stroke in the womb.

He is also deemed intellectually disabled and has attention deficit disorder.

The boy walks on tip-toes because of his disability and is due to undergo surgery Justice Graham Lang heard.

Justice Lang said because the sentence was under two years he could give leave to apply for home detention and, in exceptional circumstances, defer the start of the sentence.

Crown prosecutor Howard Lawry said the Crown was against granting home detention because the offending had taken place in Stroobant's home and with her child present.

Justice Lang decided, however, that Stroobant's son amounted to exceptional circumstances.

"It is clear that your son will need all the help he can get over the next few months," Justice Lang said.

"It's not his fault you became involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine."

Justice Lang said the boy would need help from a number of people, not the least from his mother.

The court heard on July 5 last year that police searched the Waitakere home Stroobant was living in and found her asleep on the couch, her nine-year-old son in the lounge with her.

Oil used as an agent in the manufacture of P was on the stove, precursor substances on the range hood.

Methamphetamine was found distilling in a sleep-out at the property.

Swabs from surfaces in the home's kitchen tested positive for methamphetamine, indicating it had recently been cooked there.

Justice Lang said Stroobant had had a difficult upbringing, using cannabis to deal with her parents' separation at 14.

She graduated to methamphetamine then finally gave it up in 2003.

He said Stroobant had worked in the community lecturing on the dangers of P and had no previous drug convictions.

She had escaped a violent partner who is serving a prison sentence for an incident involving a firearm where he assaulted their son, Justice Lang said.