February 03, 2010

Drug-dealing mental health patient jailed

A mental health patient who was dealing in drugs has been jailed for a year with post-release conditions to keep him on the proper medication.

Damion Mark Kite, a 31-year-old with bi-polar disorder, clutched a Bible as he stood in the dock for his Christchurch District Court sentencing today.

He had written a letter to Judge Jane Farish expressing his remorse for the offending — a charge of possessing morphine sulphate tablets for supply.

Defence counsel David Ruth said Kite was disappointed with himself, and had accepted responsibility for the offending. It had occurred when his mental health condition deteriorated because he stopped taking his medication.

Kite was found with the drugs near the end of an 18-month term of intensive supervision which was imposed for an assault which injured another Hillmorton Hospital patient in circumstances where if death had occurred he would have been guilty of manslaughter.

The victim of the assault had been pushed off a decking and landed awkwardly after the short fall, causing injuries which left him a tetraplegic.

Judge Farish said that she accepted that some of the tablets were for Kite’s own use but he planned to sell the others to maintain his own drug habit.

“Because of your bipolar disorder, sometimes you decide not to take the medication which can keep you evenly balanced,” she said. “Sometimes the medication leaves you very slow and very sleepy, and you don’t want to take it.

“The difficulty for you is that once you stop taking medication, your life somewhat spirals out of control.”

She said Kite had been doing very well on the supervision sentence before the drug offence. He has been in custody since his arrest in December.

“I am pleased to see your mental health is now better. I’m pleased to see you have found some solace in the Lord,” she told him after reading a letter he wrote to the court.

She jailed Kite for a year with release conditions for six months after the sentence ends to ensure he lives where he is directed and takes any treatment or counselling that is required, and comply with the directions of the mental health services.

“Hopefully that will keep you on the straight and narrow and cement in some of the good intentions you have at present,” she said.