KEY POINTS:
Former top jockey Leanne Isherwood avoided jail yesterday when a High Court judge accepted that she had not supplied methamphetamine in commercial quantities.
Isherwood, 35, was sentenced to 12 months' home detention after she had pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine for supply, possession of a pipe to consume it and possession of cannabis.
Justice Alan MacKenzie told the court in Palmerston North that he took into account that Isherwood was a first offender and her efforts to distance herself from the drug scene.
She was arrested during a police raid on a meth lab in Otaki on the Kapiti Coast on June 21. A search of her vehicle uncovered 2.7g of meth worth between $2000 and $2700 in point bags, $6900 cash, electronic scales, a glass pipe, and four foil packs of cannabis. A further $700 in cash was found in her pocket.
While she was with police she received a text message asking if the sender could "have the same as the other day".
Justice MacKenzie said the text message, the scales and point bags were indications that Isherwood might have been supplying drugs in quantities greater than for sharing with friends.
Isherwood's lawyer, Peter Coles, told the court that both she and her partner had dependency on methamphetamine and her case involved sharing drugs "with no commerciality involved".
Justice MacKenzie said he gave her the "benefit of the doubt", in accepting there was no commercial element.
Isherwood's association with the drug scene had led to a degree of alienation from her family and friends, but she had stopped using methamphetamine a week after being charged.
Justice MacKenzie set down special conditions for her home detention, including that she reside at a Palmerston North address and that she be assessed for an alcohol and drug treatment programme and complete the programme as directed by her probation officer.
He also ordered her not to associate with anyone who was not designated by the probation officer, not to have any alcohol or illicit drugs and to undertake employment training.
Her former partner has been jailed for 2 years for manufacturing pure meth-amphetamine.
After the sentencing, Isherwood said, "All I would like to say is at least I'm not going to prison."
Mr Coles said Isherwood deserved a break. "She got a break today and I think she will take full advantage of it."
- NZPA
