A party drug cook and money launderer says he'd still be manufacturing large quantities of Class C drugs if he hadn't been caught – and he's thankful that police stopped him.
Josh Townshend could have been jailed today but was instead sentenced in the Christchurch District Court to 12 months home detention and 250 hours community work. Before learning his fate, he spoke to 1News and said he was "very grateful" he'd been busted.
For four years, Townshend and his co-accused Raymond Moreton were importing Class C substances from China. Three out of 39 consignments were eventually intercepted by police.
In the summary of facts put before the court, police estimated the pair laundered $1.2 million in total. That was the proceeds from manufacturing between 4kg and 21kg of the drug, with a street value of $55,000 per kilogram.
Crown Prosecutor Will Taffs told the court the $1.2 million dollar figure was the best reflection of the seriousness of the offending, saying it "represents a significant drug operation particularly when it's allied to not only the steps of selling it but also importing it and manufacturing it and finally laundering it".
He added: "That informs the scale and also the sophistication of the operation that we're dealing with here."
Judge Raoul Neave heard submissions from lawyers on Wednesday, and returned to court this morning with his sentencing decisions.
Justice Neave said: "This was a sophisticated and determined operation involving significant level of sales and high level of profits."
Sentencing Townshend, from Christchurch, to home detention and community work he reflected on the 39-year-old's "significant history of drug-related offending". Yesterday he had said: "If Mr Townshend escapes jail it will be by the skin of his teeth".
Moreton, 58, the owner of R&M Trailers Ltd in Christchurch, was sentenced to 12 months home detention and 300 hours community work.
A third man, Stuart Chadwick, was sentenced to four months home detention for money laundering.
'Taking accountability'
Before the hearing, Townshend said: "For me, it's about taking accountability and acceptance for what I've done."
He said he had been sucked in to the lifestyle. "I found something I thought I was good at and it was extremely hard to turn away from."
Townshend wasn't just manufacturing mephedrone, an MDMA-type substance – sometimes called bath salts, meow meow or m-cat – he was also addicted to it.
He said: "When I first started making it, part of that process was testing it to make sure it worked and, when I started using it, I normalised using it.
"Having access to hundreds of grams to kilos at a time meant that taking some home was not an issue. The time between uses gets less and the amount you use gets more.
"There were times where I routinely didn't sleep for a couple of days."
Today is the second time Townshend has stood in the dock to be sentenced for serious drug crimes. In 2017, he was imprisoned for a year for running a large illegal steroid operation.
He said: "Initially, it was for myself and then that escalated into supplying it commercially. Once I realised how much money was to be made in that space, it was hard to put it down."
'Money that could be made'
Once in Rolleston Prison, rehabilitation was the last thing on his mind.
"I think the time I spent in there almost normalised a lot of it for me and, when I came out, I had access to people who had access to more money.
"I had seen the result of drug manufacture and the money that could be made and, when I came out, I was just so focused on getting back on my feet financially."
But he said police kept a close eye on him and, in the end, the imports and monitored phone calls led to his undoing.
In one call, the evidence before the court stated Townshend was overheard saying, if he could "get a couple of things 'painted up' before New Year's, they can move it", he could then "keep a couple of people happy and they can both benefit from it".
The summary of facts explains "painting" was a reference to manufacturing drugs and "moving" was a common reference to supplying drugs.
In December 2022, after phone calls between Moreton and Townshend were intercepted in which they talked about a "test paint", the pair were raided by police and arrested. But the case took years to come to court.
When asked what he would be doing if he hadn't been caught, Townshend said: "I think I'd be doing the same thing. I'm very grateful to the police.
"In this situation, I haven't been grateful for being caught up until now, but this is definitely the best thing that's ever happened to me."
He said being charged, and eventually pleading guilty, has been a turning point in his life.
During the years on bail, he has gained a psychology degree, with the aim of becoming a clinical psychologist. He's also been running courses and doing voluntary work with other recovering addicts at Odyssey House in Christchurch.
He said: "I've gotten to know addiction outside of my own addictions that I've had and I've gotten to see the harm that these substances cause."
He said he now feels embarrassed he was creating those addictive substances and wants to use his knowledge and lived experience of addiction and the drug world to help the community he once harmed.
"Initially, the changes were more about my sentencing to avoid prison, but the beautiful thing about this process its become less about the sentencing and more about the future."
'Best foot forwards'
At the sentencing hearing today, Crown Prosecutor Taffs said: "[Townshend] has in the time since his arrest for these matters, really put his best foot forwards."
Townshend's lawyer Olivia Jarvis elaborated on that, telling the court: "It's difficult to see what else he could have done since the offending." She referred to rehabilitation, sessions with a clinical psychologist and being a leader and support worker at rehabilitation centres in Christchurch as well as the degrees he has studied for.
His aim was to "take that lived experience and give back and help those in the community," she said.
The Judge agreed Townshend had done everything he could, saying he had "completely reinvented himself in a way which is very impressive and has worked tirelessly to improve himself."
"He's displayed genuine remorse," Neave added.
But Taffs also pointed out these crimes "began immediately after his release from prison for the last offending" and therefore it really was a "continuation of the previous offending".
"He was released on release conditions and immediately engaged in the same type of operation except on a much larger scale."
- additional reporting Laura James
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