Kayla Marie McDonald (23) appeared for sentence before Judge Peter Rollo in the Invercargill District Court this week on a representative charge of offering to supply LSD (44 occasions), a representative charge of offering to supply cannabis (18 occasions), three charges of selling cannabis, two charges of supplying LSD and a charge of possession of LSD for supply.
The offending happened between September 2019 and September 2020.
Judge Rollo said a psychologist’s report stated McDonald had been "moulded" in a significant way by her former boyfriend, who bullied and coached her.
She had met him as he had been a friend of her brother, but he had "done wrong by him".
"But in your case he has induced you into misuse of drugs together with him."
The abusive relationship did come to an end, but McDonald continued to dispose of the drugs she already had.
The judge said experiences in McDonald’s earlier life had led to low self-esteem and feelings of rejection and isolation and had led her to suffer from anxiety.
That resulted in her submitting to a controlling man, he said.
Her co-operation with police once caught also contributed to a discount to her sentence.
Judge Rollo sentenced her to nine months’ home detention and 120 hours’ community work.
