A man who sold home-made spirits to 15-year-old girls, landing them in hospital vomiting violently, has been fined $500.
Richard Gray had been selling the illicit liquor from his South Dunedin flat for nearly a year before police found out, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
The 65-year-old was charged with selling alcohol as an unlicensed person and pleaded guilty at his first appearance in July, three weeks after the girls were hospitalised.
Judge John Macdonald said it was a "very unusual charge" and police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Knox also said it was the first such case he had come across.
On July 6, police’s Youth Aid section received calls about several girls becoming severely ill after consuming the defendant’s home-made whisky and bourbon.
Inquiries led officers to Gray’s flat above Heffs Sports Bar in South Dunedin, where they executed a search warrant the next day.
There they found "beer brewing equipment, an operating still, including ingredients to make various spirits and bottle them, 20 one-litre bottles of 40% rum, bourbon, Bacardi, vodka and whisky".
Gray had $150 in $5 notes at the time, a police summary said.
He told officers he had started his distillery after he lost his job.
The beer was for himself, whereas the spirits were sold to those who knocked on his door, he admitted.Gray told police he would sell the liquor at $15 per litre bottle and would ship out about 10-20 a week.
However, in court yesterday he said that number was exaggerated.
Defence counsel Shardae Oliver said her client was not living a lavish lifestyle on the back of the alcohol sales and was only just meeting costs.
Word got around about Gray’s production after he gave some of his moonshine to friends who took it to a party.He ended up putting a sign on his door advertising his wares but his custom all came by word of mouth, Ms Oliver said.
Sgt Knox said the offending was concerning because "God knows what was in the stuff".
The strict controls about the sale of liquor were in place for that exact reason, Judge Macdonald said.
He could not sentence Gray to community work, the judge said, because of a slew of health concerns.
But the defendant told the court he felt "much healthier" since his arrest, since no-one was knocking on his door in the middle of the night any more searching for cheap booze.
As well as the fine, the defendant was ordered to pay court costs of $130.