Methadone thief Nicholas Smith has been banned from returning to Nelson-Tasman after he's released from prison for targeting the same pharmacist as last time. Photo / 123RF
Methadone thief Nicholas Smith has been banned from returning to Nelson-Tasman after he's released from prison for targeting the same pharmacist as last time. Photo / 123RF
Nicholas Smith was not long out of prison for stealing methadone when he walked into a pharmacy he was banned from entering, went behind the counter and grabbed three bottles of methadone.
When the pharmacist challenged him, he said: “F**k you, I will do whatever I want”.
This time, the judge sent him away for close to two years on charges of intimidation, burglary, breaching bail and breaching the conditions of his release and banned him from coming back to Nelson-Tasman for six months after his release.
“You said you hate Nelson with a passion and never want to return. There are probably quite a few people glad to hear that,” Judge Jo Rielly told Smith when he appeared in the Nelson District Court on Thursday via audio-visual link from prison, where he was in custody pending the sentencing.
The court had to mute the audio because of his interruptions and behaviour Judge Rielly later described as “angry and self-entitled”.
Smith’s anti-social traits were said to be the result of autism and poly-substance abuse, but no available reports supported those claims, Judge Rielly said.
Methadone thief Nicholas Smith has been banned from coming to Nelson-Tasman for six months after his release from prison. Photo / Tracy Neal
On February 28 this year, Smith received a nine-month prison sentence for burglary involving the same pharmacist to whom the current charges related, plus other charges including theft, assault and shoplifting.
Then, on June 6 this year, only days after his early release from prison he went to the pharmacist’s work. Smith approached him as he got out of his car and handed him a letter that said: “You better read this and get back to me. Your life depends on it, you motherf****r.”
The following month, although Smith had been trespassed from the pharmacy, and while subject to bail conditions, he went into the dispensary area where the pharmacist was working.
The pharmacist said he’d call the police, to which Smith replied “f**k you, I want the bottles of methadone”.
Smith then picked up three bottles of methadone that were waiting to be collected others, and told the pharmacist, “f**k you, I will do whatever I want”, as he walked out of the shop.
“This was a particularly concerning burglary because of the brazen conduct involved and the disturbing behaviour,” Judge Rielly said.
“You have caused significant harm to the victim and the people connected to him.”
According to the victim’s statement, he was frustrated, upset and stressed.He was also concerned for himself, for those connected to him and for his employees.
“He has gone to great lengths to deal with the risk of you re-offending,” Judge Rielly said. “He is extremely concerned about repeat offending against him and his business where you show no regard.”
She said Jones had shown the same disdain towards everyone in the justice and court system, to Corrections staff and the police, and “everyone who’s tried to help you with your drug addiction issues which are significant”.
Judge Rielly said Smith had reserved his highest criticism for the medical profession, which he said had “screwed up his life”, and that he “hated Nelson with a passion and never wanted to return”.
From a sentencing start point of 18 months in jail on the lead charge of loitering with intimidatory conduct, Judge Rielly added an uplift of five months, taking into account Smith’s conduct and the fact the victim was someone he’d previously threatened.
She said he was lucky not to be facing more serious charges.
Smith was given a 25 per cent credit for his guilty pleas, which was then wiped out by a 25 per cent uplift for his offending while he was subject to bail conditions, leaving him with a sentence of 23 months in prison.
The judge said nothing about Smith’s personal circumstances could be used in mitigation. She said he was “abusive, angry and self-entitled”.
In addition to his being banned from entering the Nelson-Tasman district for six months after his release, he also had to submit to electronic monitoring.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
