Jail for large scale party pill offending
File image. © Andrew Bardwell
A Riccarton manager accused of being “the driving force” in a party pill production scheme has been jailed for four years.
The Crown said the only commonsense conclusion from the evidence in the Christchurch District Court jury trial last month was that Hugh James Robinson, 61, was the driving force in the drugs scheme, even though his son gave evidence taking responsibility.
The 12-day trial was told that pills and powder with a street value of up to $240,000 was found in a series of police raids on Robinson’s house, business premises, storage unit, and car.
The defence at trial had been that Robinson’s son, 29-year-old Jamie Daniel Robinson had been responsible for the drugs, and had not done as he was instructed to destroy them after party pills became illegal in 2008. Jamie Robinson, who has served a jail sentence on drugs charges, gave evidence for the defence at the trial.
Hugh Robinson’s Christchurch company High Performance Health had previously been producing the drugs when they were legal, but he said it had some of the drugs left over when they were banned.
Prosecutor Deidre Orchard said the Crown had maintained that the obvious inference from the evidence was that Robinson was the primary person involved in producing the BZP. “He had the premises, the plant, equipment, and the knowledge. He was able to source the materials,” she said.
Hugh Robinson was convicted in 1992 for cultivating cannabis, importing LSD, and possession of LSD for supply and imprisoned for seven years six months. He was convicted of possession of BZP in 2009.
“Hugh Robinson, who has a background that cannot be ignored, has involved his son in in drug dealing and drug offending,” said Mrs Orchard.
“He has used his business as a mask, to produce BZP,” she said.
Defence counsel Richard Maze said there was no evidence that Hugh Robinson had profited from the sale of BZP. Crown evidence about cash flow and allegations of money laundering in his accounts was “flimsy” and ought to be rejected.
He said that given Jamie Robinson’s guilty pleas on drugs charges, including methamphetamine which was nothing to do with Hugh Robinson, it was a “stretch” for the Crown to suggest that the father had involved his son in drug offending.
Since his earlier drugs convictions, Hugh Robinson had led a “pro-social” life and had been operating legitimate businesses, said Mr Maze.
Robinson was found guilty by the jury of conspiring to sell the class C drugs, possession of them at the various locations, and possession of the sawn-off shotgun and ammunition..
Judge Alistair Garland said Robinson had been arrested after a series of police raids at the end of their Operation Nebraska drugs investigation in October 2013.
He told Robinson: “It is clear that you continued to make BZP in the HPH factory, with the assistance of your son, to sell it.” He had continued production of the drug, after it was banned, to finance his lifestyle.
Jamie Robinson had given evidence that he was responsible, exonerating his father.
“It is not surprising that the jury rejected the explanation given by [Robinson and his son] because it simply did not ring true. The evidence of most of the witnesses called in support, was in my judgment quite unconvincing and of dubious quality to say the least.”
Hugh Robinson maintained his innocence in his pre-sentence interview with a probation officer.
Imposing the jail term, the judge told him that in drug dealing cases, the main factors were deterrence and protection of the community. Robinson had clearly been the brains behind the organisation, and his son had been working for him.
Category: Focus
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