Woman finally sentenced for 2006 cold medicine meth case after fleeing NZ for 20 years

For about 20 years, a single court file gathered dust in a Whangārei cabinet - a relic of the pseudoephedrine-to-methamphetamine era.

It should have been finalised in 2007, but the defendant fled, leaving behind what may be one of New Zealand’s longest‑running active court files, untouched.

That was until Amanda McJarrow returned through Customs this year.

This week, as she finally faced sentencing, the court accepted that the evolution of the methamphetamine trade had left the old pseudoephedrine-based manufacturing process “largely redundant” in modern sentencing terms.

The court heard that in August 2006, McJarrow, also known as Paris Leigh Knight, and her partner at the time were pulled over in Whangārei for a traffic infringement.

Her partner was taken into custody after providing false details to police.

During roadside inquiries, officers found a meth pipe in McJarrow’s purse.

A toddler was secured in the car’s back seat and a pouch concealed in the child’s bag containing 0.3g of methamphetamine.

Police also recovered 26 boxes of Codral, four boxes of Sudafed, five boxes of Dimetapp and eight further pseudoephedrine-based medications.

A total of 1648 tablets led to McJarrow being charged with possession of a precursor substance, a charge she pleaded not guilty to and took to trial.

Skipping the country

A jury found her guilty in 2007 and she was granted bail until her sentencing.

However, instead of showing up to court, McJarrow fled to Australia, reportedly using a fake passport.

She remained there for nearly 20 years, continuing to battle methamphetamine addiction and appearing before Australian courts on drug-related charges.

Amanda McJarrow used a fake passport to skip the country. Photo / Getty Images

In 2020, the Gold Coast Bulletin and the Courier-Mail reported McJarrow was found with $400,000 and 200g of methamphetamine.

Australian police presented evidence to the Supreme Court that she had fled New Zealand on a fake passport.

She was sentenced in 2023 and deported to New Zealand as a 501 this year.

But when she arrived back through Customs, the charges that had sat dormant in Whangārei District Court came back to haunt her, and she was arrested at the airport.

McJarrow appeared before the Whangārei District Court and a sentencing date was set, again.

Sentenced after 20 years

This week, McJarrow appeared before Judge Greg Davis, who noted that much had changed in the drug manufacturing industry over the past two decades.

“This offending is from a long time ago. It predates all the current sentencing structures for these methamphetamine possessions,” Judge Davis said.

“This is not methamphetamine possession because the manufacturing process has changed over the last 20 years.

“Once upon a time, there were cooks. Pseudoephedrine and all that sort of stuff were sourced from whatever source, cooked in New Zealand houses. Nowadays it’s cheaper and easier, I’m led to believe, to smuggle it in from overseas.”

But Crown lawyer Robbie Markgraf-Smith said McJarrow’s offending was aggravated by the fact that the methamphetamine had been found near her child at the time.

“In the Crown submission, having any type of drug within reach of a baby or in a baby’s possession greatly exposes that baby to risk,” Markgraf-Smith submitted.

Markgraf-Smith noted that after McJarrow was granted bail in Whangārei this year, she breached her bail conditions twice – first by being found near a chemist she was expressly banned from, and then by absconding during an approved trip to her grandfather’s unveiling.

Amanda McJarrow breached her bail conditions twice after she returned to New Zealand.

He added the Crown could not find any other case where a defendant had remained at large for so long.

“In reflection of all of what is before your honour; of the offending, of the significant period of the absconding and further reoffending in Australia, the principles of denunciation and deterrence cannot be achieved through a community-based sentence,” Markgraf-Smith argued.

“The defendant’s twice breaching of bail shows that it significantly questions her ability to comply.”

McJarrow’s lawyer, Fred Choi, attempted to submit that McJarrow was just a passenger in the vehicle, and there was no evidence of where the pills were going.

“Are you suggesting she had a hell of a cold that day?” Judge Davis asked.

“No, no, that’s certainly not what I was suggesting,” Choi said before accepting McJarrow was a link in a chain passing the pills on to a cook.

Judge Davis told Choi a jury had made a factual finding, and he was running the risk of re-litigating a matter from 20 years ago.

“Does everyone accept the products would have generated 35g of product?” Judge Davis asked, to which both parties agreed.

“It’s not meth. A good cook would turn it into 3kg and a useless one would turn it into 3g,” he found.

Judge Davis said either outcome paled in comparison to the scale of methamphetamine offending now coming before the courts in 2026.

McJarrow told pre-sentence report writers that since returning to New Zealand, she had undertaken steps to address her longstanding addictions.

“She said she’s taking steps towards improving her wellbeing and future direction. To be honest, I have no idea what that actually means,” Judge Davis said.

“Wellbeing is a relatively new word and didn’t exist about 10 years ago. There was well and there was being, but they were never joined together.

“But what I take that to mean is that in the period since Ms McJarrow has returned to New Zealand, she has taken steps to get herself re-established, having been 501‘d out of Australia. She is to be congratulated for that.”

The Crown sought a term of imprisonment while the defence sought a term of community detention.

Judge Davis, however, took the middle ground and sentenced her to eight months of home detention.

DRUG SAFETY

Where to get help:
• 0800 METH HELP (0800 6384 4357)
• Alcohol Drug Helpline (Phone 0800 787 797 or text 8681)
• They also have a Māori line on 0800 787 798 and a Pasifika line on 0800 787 799
• How to stay safer if you're using drugs: The Level
• Where to get your drugs checked: Drug checking clinics

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.