Guilty gran's tinnie house

Nancy Riki, mother of two and the caregiver of a grandchild, operated a tinnie house from her home. Photo / NZ Herald

A grandmother sold $2000 worth of cannabis every two days from her home to fuel her own drug habit.

Nancy Riki, 52, was this week sentenced to home detention for operating a tinnie house from her Harold Cres home in the Rotorua suburb of Fordlands.

Police raided her home on June 11 and found 47 tinfoils of cannabis, known as tinnies, and a number of 4g plastic bags of the drug, known as $50 bags, ready for sale.

They also found $2645 in cash and equipment for growing cannabis.

Riki had told police she sold the tinnies for $20 each. She had pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis for supply at an earlier appearance in Rotorua District Court.

Her lawyer, Brent Cooper, told the court Riki had been a heavy user but had stopped smoking since her arrest.

Cooper said she was a mother of two and was also the caregiver of a grandchild.

He asked the court not to jail her because she was remorseful for her actions and trying to get her life back on track.

"She was selling drugs to fuel her own habit," he said.

Home detention is not normally approved at a house from which offenders have operated tinnie houses but Cooper said Riki had moved.

Crown prosecutor Sarah-Louise Wootten told the court it was a productive tinnie house. She asked the court to consider a starting point of 2 years' jail instead of home detention.

"My concern is she can still open up a tinnie house at any new home," she said.

Judge Phillip Cooper told Riki she was lucky not to be going to jail. Instead he handed down a sentence of nine months' home detention and 200 hours' community work.

"It's a borderline call in your case, particularly in a community in Rotorua where the effects of cannabis offending are seen every day in court," he said.

Judge Cooper also ordered the cash found be forfeited to the Crown.