APPEAL OVER HOME LOST

Wellington: A Christchurch couple who used their family home for a cannabis
operation have lost the house under laws which prevent people gaining from
the proceeds of crime.

The Court of Appeal in Wellington this week dismissed the appeals of
Malcolm James Law and Robynne Ellen Law.

The court said although the property was honestly acquired seven years
before the cannabis operation started, for five years it was used "in
a significant way" for growing, cropping, packaging and selling cannabis.

The Laws were each convicted of growing cannabis and having the drug
for sale between January 1993 and November 1997. Mr Law also pleaded
guilty to selling cannabis. They were caught again when police
searched their house a second time in May 1998. Each was convicted of
having cannabis for the purpose of sale. Mr Law was sentenced to three
and a-half years' jail, and Mrs Law to two years' jail.

After they were both out of prison, the Crown asked for their home to
be confiscated.

It also asked for another property at Woodend, 29km north of
Christchurch, to be seized, but later withdrew that request.

The Court of Appeal said it was not prepared to change the
confiscation decision on the grounds of Mrs Law's poor mental health.

The judges said it might seem harsh, but she had taken part in the
offending willingly and, as such, had brought the confiscation on herself.