Judge locks up teenager who bought P ingredients

A judge has handed down the Youth Court's toughest sentence to a Napier teenager used as a "shopper" to buy ingredients for pure methamphetamine (P).

Judge Paul von Dadelszen in the Napier Youth Court sentenced the 17-year-old girl to three months' residence in a youth justice facility with supervision.

The girl had admitted buying, and then supplying, a flu product containing pseudoephedrine.

The sentence is the highest available to Youth Court judges under the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act.

On August 29 last year, the girl, who was 16 at the time, and a 19-year-old co-offender entered several pharmacies in Lower Hutt.

The pair bought tablets from two pharmacies, and unsuccessfully tried to buy tablets at two others.

They supplied three boxes to another person, and had intended buying 10 as they stood to receive $2000.

The girl's lawyer, Amanda Courtney, argued the girl was "naive" and had been in a car with no warning of the crime.

The co-offender was jailed for three months, but the girl was a first offender, and, given her age and remorse, Ms Courtney endorsed a social worker's recommendation of community work.

"She's not at risk of ever being involved in the manufacturing, supply or use of P," Ms Courtney said.

Judge von Dadelszen acknowledged the girl's motivation was more to do with helping a friend than making money and she was unlikely to offend again.

But too light a sentence would be like granting gangs a licence to exploit young people.

- NZPA

Herald Feature: The P epidemic