October 03, 2012

Biosecurity offender wants to work in airline industry

By David Clarkson

A 20-year-old university student cried at her sentencing where her immaturity and youthful arrogance were cited as reasons for offending that breached New Zealand?s biosecurity with imports of dangerous mossballs.

The Ministry of Primary Industries is now concerned that she wants to work in the airline industry.

?She?s a person who cannot be trusted to go through biosecurity on a very regular basis,? prosecutor Grant Fletcher told Christchurch District Court.

He said the consequences of the mossballs being released ?could have been utterly catastrophic and could still be catastrophic?.

Biosecurity officials cannot tell if any of the mossballs she imported have got into the Avon River. If only one filament has reached the waterway or the estuary it could cause an outbreak that would be difficult to control.

?It will be watched extremely carefully by the Ministry,? said Fletcher.

Judge Jane Farish ruled out a discharge without conviction and told Jasmine Louise Maxwell she was being over-emotive in saying the offending on her record would condemn her to life as a cleaner or shop assistant.

She should continue with her studies and get a good degree, the judge told her. But she would have to admit to employers that she had been silly when she was younger and had learned a hard lesson.

Maxwell imported Marimo moss balls and sold some on-line. They are an aggressive algae that is used in the northern hemisphere to clean fish tanks but would have caused a disaster on the scale of didymo if they had got into New Zealand?s waterways.

The mossballs are an absolutely prohibited import which brought Maxwell before the court on seven charges relating to breaches of the Biosecurity Act and the Hazardous Substances and New Zealand Organisms Act. She pleaded guilty in July.

Fletcher said Maxwell?s offending had resulted from ?immaturity, vast stupidity, and youthful arrogance?. She had continued with her activities even after a warning from the Ministry.

The court was told that Maxwell had a university qualification which included biosecurity. She is now working part time and continuing to study.

Defence counsel Phillip Allan said Maxwell had been interested in the mossballs and had sold some for between $14 and $16 on TradeMe. She had not intended to make a lot of money out of the sales.

She had expressed her regret and had at times been overwhelmed by the prosecution. She had also been dealing with family and earthquake stress at the time.

?But for the earthquake, Miss Maxwell may be been thinking a little clearer and all this may not have happened,? said Allan.

Maxwell began crying when the judge listed the maximum penalties, which include five years? jail, and a fine of $100,000.

She told Maxwell: ?The consequences of release within New Zealand would be severe. It would not be dissimilar to didymo. Control would be difficult to manage and expensive.?

She assessed Maxwell as immature and recognised that she was highly remorseful. She accepted that her mind had not been ?on the job? at the time.

The judge imposed a sentence of 250 hours of community work to reflect the seriousness of the offences, and said she hoped that Community Probation could find an agency placement for her.