Father jailed after girl, 12, tests positive for P

A small pouch of P or methamphetamine. File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

The father of a 12-year-old girl who tested positive for methamphetamine after living with him at a Napier house where P was made has been jailed.

Robert Pearson, 41, appeared for sentence in Napier District Court on Thursday after earlier admitting allowing his Taradale home to be used for the manufacture of methamphetamine, wilful ill-treatment of a child, and receiving stolen property.

Police searched the house and garage last year, finding a clandestine laboratory, numerous tools that formed part of a "methamphetamine kit", chemicals and other substances, Hawke's Bay Today reported.

Holes dug in the backyard contained burnt pill capsules which had contained pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in making P.

Crown prosecutor Steve Manning said that tests revealed the girl's hair showed a low level of methamphetamine, an aggravating factor in the case.

Judge Patrick Treston said the offending was centred around July, 2009 when Pearson allowed a friend to move into his home to cook P.

He said Pearson had used methamphetamine for about 10 years and "allowed someone else to manufacture methamphetamine as a way of feeding your own addiction".

He jailed Pearson for 23 months imprisonment with conditions requiring he attend drug counselling for six months after release.

His daughter was now in the care of her mother.

- NZPA