Ecstasy buyer asks for discharge

One of the men caught up in the so-called celebrity drug ring pleaded guilty to possession of the party drug Ecstasy yesterday.

Elliot John Worrall, a 30-year-old Ponsonby financial analyst, was originally charged with possession of MDMA (Ecstasy) for supply.

But when he appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday, the charge had been reduced to simple possession, carrying a maximum penalty of three months' imprisonment and a $500 fine.

A summary of facts presented to Judge Avinash Deobhakta said Worrall was caught when he bought drugs from a man who was under electronic surveillance.

He arranged to buy 55 pills from the man police say was the kingpin of the ring and later went to his home to pick up the purchase.

After Worrall's house was searched, he told police he bought a single pill from the man in a bar and later contacted him for more.

His lawyer, Stuart Grieve, QC, asked for a discharge without conviction so Worrall would be able to travel overseas on business, particularly to the United States, Canada and Europe.

But prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said this was serious offending, right at the top of the scale.

The issue of a discharge without conviction had been fully canvassed at the sentencing of property developer David Henderson. Judge Simon Lockhart had refused to discharge Henderson without conviction, and there was a need for parity and consistency.

Mr Pilditch observed that the US authorities were as interested in the underlying facts as whether a conviction had been entered. He said he would need to investigate the situation in Canada and Europe.

The sentencing hearing was adjourned until next month.

Mr Grieve told the judge the aggravating factor was the quantity of pills purchased. However, there were long-term consequences for Worrall's career.

While his offending might otherwise have gone through the court system relatively unnoticed, his stupidity had been exposed for all to see in the full glare of media publicity.

Mr Grieve said Worrall, a financial analyst with a commerce and law degree, had effectively lost his job with the Pacific Retail Group when his offending became known.

However, the firm had indicated that if Worrall were discharged without conviction, he would be re-engaged immediately.

Mr Grieve said that if Worrall were to work in the family cycle-importing business, he would need to travel overseas, which would be difficult if not impossible with a conviction.

"And there is the media attention - he has been caught up in what has publicly been called a celebrity drug ring.

"He is the last person to call himself a celebrity. That is a term that I find somewhat abhorrent anyway."

Mr Grieve likened the media focus to a "feeding frenzy".

It had been extreme, and people who might otherwise have escaped attention had been caught up in the frenzy and suffered the consequences.