Student drug dealer given home detention

The man offered to sell small amounts of MDMA, alongside LSD, cannabis and ketamine. Photo / 123RF

A drug dealer who was arrested just days before sitting the final exams of his four-year university degree has avoided imprisonment.

Aidan O'Neill Graham, 22, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to seven charges featuring class A, B and C drugs during his time in the South as a student.

He was sentenced to 12 months' home detention, the maximum such term. The court heard he would serve the penalty at his family home in Wellington and was hoping to work alongside his parents.

Graham, who studied environmental science at the University of Otago, used text messages and social-media app Snapchat to organise drug sales over several months last year.

Judge Emma Smith accepted it was an unsophisticated operation, evidence of which was readily apparent once police had the defendant's cellphone.

The deals, counsel Andrew Dawson said, happened about once a week, and he stressed they did not involve large quantities of drugs.

Graham made 15 offers to sell small quantities of cannabis over nearly six months and there were a handful of offers to supply ketamine, MDMA (Ecstasy) and LSD.

Phone data showed the defendant had tried to source 100 tabs of the latter but Dawson said that never took place.

However, an indication of the scale of the enterprise became apparent when police apprehended Graham.

They found $10,000 in cash.

Judge Emma Smith made a forfeiture order for $6250 of the sum, after police and defence came to an agreement about the proportion that came from drug sales.

At an earlier sentencing-indication hearing, she called it "highly serious drug offending".

"There was a large intent to gain profit — you are an intelligent man, you knew the maths — you were well aware of what you were doing," she said.

The judge was impressed by Graham's candour, apparent in a probation report in which he admitted his addiction issues and mental-health challenges.

He was deemed a low risk of reoffending but she said there was "very high need" to deter people who supplied drugs.

The court also heard about the impact of the court case on Graham's parents.

"They're horrified by it, they're depressed by it, disappointed in you beyond measure but you are their son," Judge Smith said.

Any parent in the courtroom could imagine how they felt, she said.