Hayden Reginald Van Dijk, 29, was yesterday jailed for six years by Justice Chisholm in the High Court in Christchurch after admitting charges of making methamphetamine and possessing equipment to make it.A co-offender, Julian Vivian Alexander Paul Mackie, 32, who was found guilty of allowing premises to be used for drug-making, was sentenced to a year's home detention.The judge said that on January 30 last year, the landlord visited the Salisbury Street house and what he saw prompted a call to the police. They noticed chemical smells and saw items usually associated with a methamphetamine laboratory. Help was then sought from a specialist team.
Soon after, Van Dijk was seen leaving, carrying four bottles of chemicals, and he was arrested.Among items found were 17kg of toluene, two litres of sulphuric acid, the remains of cold medicines used as a precursor for P, a covert surveillance camera, "and the list goes on", the judge said."There is ample evidence to support the inference this was a significant commercial operation."Van Dijk had a long list of previous convictions for drug-related offending, but a significant aggravating factor was a previous conviction for making methamphetamine, for which he served time in jail."It's regrettable you did not learn your lesson then," the judge said.
In the case of Mackie, the judge said until he heard submissions from defence counsel James Rapley, he thought there was no option but jail.Mackie, who lived in the house with Van Dijk, knew what was going to happen and allowed it to happen.
With "huge misgivings", Justice Chisholm said he would impose home detention, given there was solid evidence Mackie had made efforts to turn his life around.
Soon after, Van Dijk was seen leaving, carrying four bottles of chemicals, and he was arrested.Among items found were 17kg of toluene, two litres of sulphuric acid, the remains of cold medicines used as a precursor for P, a covert surveillance camera, "and the list goes on", the judge said."There is ample evidence to support the inference this was a significant commercial operation."Van Dijk had a long list of previous convictions for drug-related offending, but a significant aggravating factor was a previous conviction for making methamphetamine, for which he served time in jail."It's regrettable you did not learn your lesson then," the judge said.
In the case of Mackie, the judge said until he heard submissions from defence counsel James Rapley, he thought there was no option but jail.Mackie, who lived in the house with Van Dijk, knew what was going to happen and allowed it to happen.
With "huge misgivings", Justice Chisholm said he would impose home detention, given there was solid evidence Mackie had made efforts to turn his life around.
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