Jason Christopher McKenzie’s sentence delayed after admitting further offending

An unemployed Tweed man who set up a makeshift meth lab in his mum’s home could face more charges after admitting further offending in court. Here’s what happened.

Lismore District Court. Picture: NewsLocal

A last-minute dispute over the agreed facts of a Tweed Shire man busted for cooking methamphetamine at his mother’s home has forced delays in his sentencing.

Jason Christopher McKenzie, 40, was set to be sentenced in Lismore District Court last week for manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, manufacture indictable quantity of prohibited drug, and possess prohibited drug.

McKenzie, who is unemployed, pleaded guilty for crimes he committed between March and June 2022 after being “given” 1.9kg methamphetamine powder to “recrystalise”.

McKenzie was “given” powder methamphetamine to “recrystallise” a court heard.

Judge Jonathan Priestley heard McKenzie assembled an ad-hoc drug lab at his mother’s home, using $5,000 from his brother and sister after telling them he needed money to fix his car.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Hannah said McKenzie admitted to further offending which could result in “more possible police charges” and the court had to “find the facts”.

McKenzie’s defence barrister Jason Watts said counsel had agreed to facts of manufacturing methamphetamine.

“In the period so far, he’s pleaded guilty so I can’t understand why we can’t move forward,” Mr Watts said.

Mr Hannah told the court McKenzie had financial motivation as part of his manufacturing operation, where amounts up to $1000 were deposited sporadically into his bank account when he was “apparently on welfare”.

The court heard McKenzie had lost money in cryptocurrencies and his drug manufacturing was an “act of desperation” that he was “forced to do”.

McKenzie told the court men that “gave” him the powder methamphetamine came back for payment when he failed to recrystalise it.

The court heard other chemical substances were found in the lab and there were two chemical processes in place when police stormed the scene and arrested him.

Methamphetamine crystals.

Mr Watts told the court his client did not “make” the drugs, he “extracted” them, and that was the accepted basis for his plea of guilty.

“To suggest that a police chemist give evidence because the Crown just learned Mr McKenzie said in court he “refined” the meth to try and make it purer … is not correct,” Mr Watts said.

As the trial continued, tensions arose in court, with disputes about how the drugs were produced.

Judge Priestley exclaimed: “You’re doing my head in.”

Mr Priestley said McKenzie had come to court based on agreed facts and the case shouldn’t be “ a matter of fact finding”.

Mr Watts said in his submissions the police chemist should be denied as the Crown gave no indication of specific evidence.

He said all parties agreed the plea was for the manufacture and extraction alone, calling the witness a “waste of time”.

“The agreed facts don’t suggest anything other than extraction and should by inference show extraction as the only process,” Mr Watts said.

Mr Hannah said McKenzie did “more things with the chemicals” posed in the agreed facts, used different processes to what was given as evidence, and used the word “recrystallisation”, not “extraction”.

Judge Priestley adjourned the sentence to November 1.

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Originally published as Jason Christopher McKenzie’s sentence delayed after admitting further offending