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A woman who smuggled drugs into prison for her partner has had an appeal against her own prison sentence dismissed.
Paula Clarke, who was sentenced to eight months' jail after pleading guilty to supplying a controlled drug, had concealed a package containing four oxycodone tablets on her body when she visited the prison in January.
Oxycodone is an opiate commonly used for pain relief and is similar to morphine.
A Court of Appeal judgment, delivered by Justice Geoffrey Venning yesterday, said a corrections officer saw Clarke passing the package to her partner. The package was recovered and Clarke admitted to bringing the tablets with her to prison.
The trial judge noted the pre-sentencing report was not the most flattering. The probation officer considered Clarke showed an ambivalent attitude to her offending.
Taking a proper starting point to be one year in jail, and allowing for mitigating factors including the guilty plea and Clarke's largely good record, the original judge reduced that by a third to arrive at a sentence of eight months.
Clarke appealed that the sentence was manifestly excessive because she received little or no consideration for the fact that she was sentenced as a first offender.
The Appeal Court said that submission did not withstand scrutiny.
They said the sentencing judge considered her "largely good record" and also reduced the starting point of one year's imprisonment by one-third for mitigating factors.
The appellant also claimed in her appeal that she was influenced by her ex-partner and had concerns for her safety if she did not comply with his requests.
The appeal judges said the pre-sentencing report did not support the submission that Clarke's will was overborne by the pressure placed on her.
The Appeal Court also said the starting point of 12 months was well within the range and might be seen as lenient. The discount of one-third for the guilty plea and other favourable mitigating circumstances was conventional and could not be criticised.
The judges noted that offending of this nature required deterrence, which might not be sufficiently reflected by imposing a sentence of home detention.
- NZPA
