NEWSREADER RULING SPARKS MPS' ANGER

The bid by former TV3 newsreader Darren McDonald to avoid jail after being
convicted of drug offences came under attack in Parliament yesterday.

Opposition parties and Government ally United Future asked why McDonald should
be granted home detention and spared his eight-month jail sentence because of
his fame.

McDonald, 36, was last week released on bail, after admitting two charges
relating to methamphetamine and Ecstasy, so he could seek home detention.

United Future MP Marc Alexander asked Acting Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel
what kind of signal the sentence, for a conviction carrying a maximum 14-year
jail term, gave the community.

Opposition parties linked McDonald's application for home detention to that of
Bailey Junior Kurariki, who was convicted of the September 2001 manslaughter of
pizza delivery man Michael Choy.

Kurariki, just 13 when Mr Choy was killed, is eligible for parole in January
but his application for home detention will be heard next month.

NZ First leader Winston Peters asked how, if home detention was for low-level
offenders, applications were now being lodged by Kurariki, a convicted killer,
and McDonald, who had conspired to supply drugs.

Sentencing McDonald, Justice Marion Frater said his sentence should be deferred
given his high profile and "the acknowledged availability" of drugs in prison.

Her reasoning was later labelled "hogwash" by criminologist Greg Newbold, who
said there were far more drugs outside prison than inside.