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KEVIN STENT/Stuff
Justin Rankin is due to be released on parole for one of the biggest fantasy drug offences yet seen in New Zealand. (File photo)
The Parole Board has accepted a rehabilitation proposal for the Wellington man responsible for supplying what police said was the largest amount of the drug GBL or “fantasy” yet uncovered in New Zealand.
Justin Rankin, 36, was supplying GBL in bulk, buying it in what was effectively a paint stripper he bought from an importer.
Police found about 400L of the liquid when Rankin was arrested in November 2020 but it was alleged much more was involved, with the sentencing judge saying the potential profit had been up to $1.6 million.
The judge made what he said was a strong plea for Rankin to urgently have treatment.
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In November Rankin was sentenced to seven years and five months’ jail but had spent so long in custody before being sentenced that he was soon eligible to be considered for parole having served one-third of the time.
In April the Parole Board considered his case and has accepted a rehabilitation proposal.
Rankin told the board that he was heavily addicted to methamphetamine and had been swapping the GBL for methamphetamine.
The board was told he was on a waiting list for a dependency treatment programme. None was available at Rimutaka Prison and he was only tentatively on a waiting list for Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison later in the year.
ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson addressed the media after Wellington police seized the largest amount of GBL, known as the “date rape” drug, in New Zealand’s history. (Video first published November 2020).
Instead, Rankin had a lawyer propose he attended a residential programme while on parole. The name of the programme was removed from the public copy of the board’s decision. The programme manager was at the parole hearing to support Rankin.
The board said it had a long discussion with Rankin and others about the programme which was not one the Department of Corrections usually referred people to, but the board was told there was an association with Christchurch prisons and Rimutaka.
It was expected Rankin would be on the programme for more than a year, taking drug and alcohol treatment and behavioural therapies.
NZ Police/Supplied
Wellington police seized many litres of GBL in November 2020. (File photo)
The board said it saw merit in him doing the programme. It said conditions it imposed would mitigate any undue risk he still posed, but one of the conditions it relied on was deleted from its decision.
He was due to be released to the programme in mid-May but that was subject to conditions being met and if they weren’t, parole could be revoked.
Rankin has three years of conditions ahead of him on parole, and the board has scheduled a hearing in October to monitor his progress.
The long list of conditions includes electronic monitoring to ensure he is living only where permitted.
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