Sentencing judge urges drastic measures on P

A High Court judge called for "drastic" measures to combat the P scourge as he sentenced an armed robber to 18 1/2 years in prison.

Dean James McDonald Shedden was told he must spend at least 10 of those years behind bars.

Shedden, 34, was high on the drug when he committed five robberies in the middle of last year, culminating in the shooting of Glenfield Tavern assistant manager Ronald Stinson.

Prosecutor Marc Corlett told Justice Rhys Harrison in the High Court at Auckland yesterday that Shedden robbed to get money to buy pure methamphetamine or to pay off P-related debts.

Justice Harrison said users and society would continue to suffer the mindless consequences of the drug until Parliament and the pharmaceutical industry devised effective ways of ensuring that substances used to make the drug did not enter the country. Parliament had already reclassified methamphetamine as a class A drug, with manufacture carrying a maximum life sentence.

That was a positive step, but the judge said that something "much more drastic" was needed.

Citing the RSA triple killings and the murders carried out by Ese Junior Falealii, as well as others in the court system, Mr Corlett said that offenders who carried out armed robberies while on P were unstable and dangerous.

Justice Harrison told Shedden he accepted that he was not an innately violent person, but he had committed the most violent of crimes.

His criminality, the judge said, was "fuelled and driven" by his addiction to pure methamphetamine.

Shedden was said to be using a gram of the expensive drug daily and incurring huge debts. Combining P with the violent nature of his crimes, he acted in a way that was "right out of control".

Justice Harrison said the evidence showed that methamphetamine led to prolonged periods of sleeplessness, confusion, anxiety and ultimately to "random acts of extreme and senseless violence".

Shedden, represented by Marie Dyhrberg, was found guilty of five aggravated robberies, one aggravated burglary, discharging a firearm with intent to cause Mr Stinson grievous bodily harm, two counts of theft and five counts of taking a motor vehicle.

He admitted other charges of burglary, possession of burglary instruments and unlawfully taking a car.

The jury acquitted Shedden of attempting to murder Mr Stinson.

Herald Feature: The P epidemic