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A drug dealer has had six months knocked off his prison sentence by the Supreme Court because the original sentencing judge did not take consideration "tragic" personal circumstances at the time of his trial.
Jonathan Nuki Lummis Jarden was jailed in the High Court at Christchurch last year for three years for conspiring to supply methamphetamine.
Just before the start of the trial, Jarden's mentally ill partner took her own life along with that of their unborn child.
In their ruling today, Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias, and Justices Peter Blanchard, Andrew Tipping, John McGrath and William Wilson said his personal circumstances were so extreme they "could and should have been taken into account in sentencing".
They quashed Jarden's three year sentence, and imposed a jail term of two years and six months.
- NZPA
