Man urged to get himself free of drug ‘devil’
A Rangiora man with a longtime drug habit has been told he owes it to his children to free himself from the “devil” of drug abuse.
Judge Robert Murfitt will get three-monthly judicial monitoring reports on the progress of John Raymond Wanhalla, 30, as part of the sentence of a year’s intensive supervision imposed in the Christchurch District Court last week.
Wanhalla was arrested at Rangiora on September 24 and charged with drug offences and possession of a knife in a public place.
The drugs charges were downgraded by the police when testing showed the substance Wanhalla was caught with was not methamphetamine but BZP – party pills, which are banned, but much less serious drugs.
He then pleaded guilty to four drug charges including possession of cannabis for supply, and the weapons possession charge.
Defence counsel Rupert Glover said the pre-sentence report recognised that Wanhalla’s problems were a longstanding drug habit, depression, and the loss of his mother. He was devoted to his children and wanted to “set up in an appropriate situation with their mother”. He was not employed but was training on a course.
Judge Murfitt said Wanhalla had been involved with criminal offending and drug use for a long time. In 2005 he had served a long prison sentence for violent offending, and other convictions since then showed that he had not shaken off his drug addiction. The convictions included possession of the class A drug methamphetamine.
Judge Murfitt told Wanhalla that if he committed further offending during his year of supervision and monitoring, he would go to jail.
He told Wanhalla: “You have got family responsibilities. You made a choice earlier in your life to follow the path of drug abuse. You owe it to your children to get yourself free of this devil and get yourself a life that is actually worth living.”
Category: News
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