Former teacher David Arthur, who filmed teenagers smoking P at his Auckland home, has been jailed for two years but given leave to apply for home detention. 48-year-old Arthur was last month found guilty by an Auckland High Court jury of supplying a class A drug to for young people at a party. During the trial Arthur's homosexuality was raised but Justice Priestly told the jury they had to put aside personal feelings of anger and distaste. The only question was whether Arthur supplied P to teenagers at a party. A major piece of evidence was the video of the four smoking the drug in his bedroom. Two of the young people took the tape and gave it to Sunday Star-Times reporter Amie Richardson, who used it to form the basis of a front-page expose. One of the four was former paparazzi photographer Jonathan Marshall, an acquaintance of Richardson's. Arthur's defence suggested that he had been set up and sold out by Marshall, which was denied. Marshall, who once exposed celebrity secrets on a tabloid website for a living, received permission to have his face and voice disguised during TV coverage of the trial. Defence lawyer Paul Dacre said Arthur had been subjected to a lot of media publication, much of it unrelated to the matters before the court. He was unable to teach again and had been seriously affected. An appeal will be lodged.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 11th August 2004 - 12:00pm