Drug addict sentenced for hammer threat

When two pharmacy burglaries failed to produce any drugs, Shaun Richard Leif Paulsen took a hammer and resorted to armed robbery.

The drug addict's raid on a pharmacy in the Christchurch suburb of Shirley gained him some methadone and a 3-1/2 year jail term.

The 24-year-old unemployed man was now motivated to deal with his long-standing addiction, defence counsel Liz Bulger told Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen Erber today.

Paulsen was appearing for sentence after pleading guilty to two burglaries and an aggravated robbery.

Judge Erber told him: "The courts always take the view that these forms of burglaries should be treated more sternly than burglaries of ordinary commercial premises because of the drug-fuelled nature of the offending."

Finding no drugs, Paulsen then went to another pharmacy where he demanded drugs from the 50-year-old woman at the shop.

When she refused, he threatened her with a hammer. She said they did not have the drugs he wanted, but Paulsen took a bottle of methadone and filled a syringe.

"She was shaken by the events," said Judge Erber.

He discounted some of Paulsen's sentence because of his remorse for upsetting the shop staff, his co-operation with the police, and his early plea of guilty.

- NZPA