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A man who left a portable methamphetamine laboratory in a primary school dumpster will face a lengthy prison spell after the decision to sentence him in the High Court next month.
David Vi Vong, a 35-year-old taxi driver from Vietnam, pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to charges of possessing a precursor substance for drug manufacture and endangering life by criminal nuisance.
But the Crown did not accept Vong's explanation that the laboratory equipment and chemicals were left in his garage by an unknown woman he had provided accommodation for, and that he panicked and got rid of them.
The police contended that Vong was transporting the equipment so that someone else could use it to manufacture methamphetamine when he panicked and dumped it over a fence into a bin at Windsor School.
At a disputed facts hearing in Christchurch District Court today, Judge Michael Green rejected Vong's claims and granted the Crown's application to have him sentenced in the High Court, where a harsher penalty can be imposed.
Judge Green said he was "by no means convinced" that a sentence of less than a year's jail was appropriate in the case.
The laboratory, including containers leaking fumes, was found last September. The primary school was deserted at the time, but unknown to Vong a holiday programme was running.
Vong was remanded today on renewed bail for sentence on June 5.
- NZPA
