The High Court has rejected a soldier's bid to overturn a four-month jail sentence for drug offences, including offering to sell a psychoactive substance.
Following a court martial at Linton Military Camp last month, Jacob McCartin was ordered to be held in a Corrections-run prison rather than a military facility.
His lawyer yesterday told the High Court in Wellington the sentence was manifestly excessive and some other kind of detention and dismissal from the Army would have been more appropriate.
However, in a decision today the High Court upheld the sentence.
The court's judgment noted that although McCartin had suffered hardship in losing his employment and being unable to complete his plumbing apprenticeship, "drug dealing and imprisonment are always a likely combination".
