Newsreader ruling sparks MPs' anger

By HELEN TUNNAH

The bid by former TV3 newsreader Darren McDonald to avoid jail after being convicted of drug offences came under attack in Parliament yesterday.

Opposition parties and Government ally United Future asked why McDonald should be granted home detention and spared his eight-month jail sentence because of his fame.

McDonald, 36, was last week released on bail, after admitting two charges relating to methamphetamine and Ecstasy, so he could seek home detention.

United Future MP Marc Alexander asked Acting Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel what kind of signal the sentence, for a conviction carrying a maximum 14-year jail term, gave the community.



Opposition parties linked McDonald's application for home detention to that of Bailey Junior Kurariki, who was convicted of the September 2001 manslaughter of pizza delivery man Michael Choy.

Kurariki, just 13 when Mr Choy was killed, is eligible for parole in January but his application for home detention will be heard next month.

NZ First leader Winston Peters asked how, if home detention was for low-level offenders, applications were now being lodged by Kurariki, a convicted killer, and McDonald, who had conspired to supply drugs.

Sentencing McDonald, Justice Marion Frater said his sentence should be deferred given his high profile and "the acknowledged availability" of drugs in prison.

Her reasoning was later labelled "hogwash" by criminologist Greg Newbold, who said there were far more drugs outside prison than inside.