Judge Saunders<\/a> explained the maximum was six months and duly adjusted her sentence.<\/p>\n\u2018The doctors aren\u2019t doing enough\u2019<\/p>\n
Knox met the woman in 2024 and was aware she had health problems, an alcohol addiction, and was often in pain from medical issues, which required hospitalisation.<\/p>\n
On three occasions in April, Knox offered to supply her with an undisclosed amount of MDMA, but she declined each time. <\/p>\n
Knox himself picked magic mushrooms and sold them to his friend on three occasions, including selling 210g for $3000. <\/p>\n
On May 21, he sold her 120mg of morphine for $90.<\/p>\n
Between May 23 and July 11, he sold and supplied her 310mg of oxycodone over four separate occasions for a total of $620.<\/p>\n
On June 27, Knox bought half a gram of heroin for $400.<\/p>\n
On July 13, the woman asked to buy some heroin from Knox and he sold her 100mg for $100.<\/p>\n
She was found dead the next day, still in possession of some of the heroin.<\/p>\n
A coroner later ruled the effects of the heroin, combined with codeine, diazepam and the anti-psychotic drug quetiapine caused her death.<\/p>\n
When questioned by police, Knox admitted supplying the woman with drugs and said he did it to help her as \u201cshe was in pain and the doctors were not doing enough to address that pain\u201d.<\/p>\n
Knox was sentenced on charges of offering to supply Class B drugs, MDMA, and selling morphine and oxycodone, and selling Class A drugs, magic mushrooms, or psilocybine, and heroin.<\/p>\n
The latter two charges have a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n
\u2018He should get 65% in discounts\u2019<\/p>\n
Knox\u2019s counsel, James Gurnick, submitted a report from neuropsychologist Dr Jon Nuth, which he said clearly set out the nexus between his addiction and the offending and pushed for 65% in total discounts.<\/p>\n
But Judge Saunders wasn\u2019t impressed, stating the information given to the doctor was self-reported from Knox.<\/p>\n
Gurnick agreed but said there were some medical notes from a different doctor in his client\u2019s file.<\/p>\n
He pushed for a community detention sentence, which the judge agreed to do but she disagreed with the discounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you now, I\u2019m not at all attracted to a 70% discount for Mr Knox, which is essentially the submission that you are making,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n
But Gurnick held fast, replying the discount was \u201ccertainly the type of reduction that has been afforded to offenders in the past\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Nothing I say can mitigate your loss\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge Saunders began her sentencing by acknowledging the dead woman\u2019s parents, who were in court to see Knox in the dock.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure that nothing I say can mitigate your loss, but I acknowledge it,\u201d she told them.<\/p>\n
The judge then told Knox she accepted he was not a commercial drug dealer, and instead was just giving them to his friends.<\/p>\n
She said he hadn\u2019t been charged over the woman\u2019s death, but \u201cthe heroin you supplied to her was identified as a contributing factor to her death\u201d. <\/p>\n
![\"Matthew]()
Matthew Knox admitted supplying a woman with drugs and says he did it to help her because “she was in pain”. Photo \/ Belinda Feek<\/p>\n
\u201cI accept you did this because you thought it would help to manage the pain that she was in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018You have also suffered an overdose\u2019<\/p>\n
Knox had told a pre-sentence report writer he had used heroin as a means of \u201cblocking pain\u201d and had been using drugs to self-medicate since he was 16 or 17.<\/p>\n
He took full responsibility for what happened and was genuinely remorseful.<\/p>\n
Knox had also stopped using drugs, had a treatment plan, and was continuing to work with Nuth.<\/p>\n
He had also been diagnosed with ADHD and \u201clikely\u201d autism spectrum disorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, you have used drugs as a means of getting through life since you were 16, turning to methamphetamine at 17, and to other illegal drugs since,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is long-standing, it is multifaceted, and it seems on one occasion there was an overdose.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought the use of illegal drugs was the best way to alleviate your stress and your distress and, in turn, to alleviate that of your friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou now understand completely how wrong that was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Saunders told him the harm caused by illegal drugs \u201ccould not be overstated\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inevitable harm to an individual, a loved one, the community, and to so often the offender, occurs because of an addict\u2019s need to fund their habit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, she didn\u2019t accept there was a causal nexus between his offending and addiction that would warrant a discount, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it is relevant to me when I consider a final sentence,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n
After allowing 40% in discounts, she sentenced Knox to an adjusted six months\u2019 community detention and 18 months\u2019 intensive supervision.<\/p>\n
\u2018Smack, Brown, Dope, Horse\u2019<\/p>\n
Heroin is a depressant, but can make you feel euphoric, warm and sleepy, and temporarily relieve pain.<\/p>\n
Knox\u2019s associate was one of 45 opioid drug overdose cases in New Zealand in 2024. <\/p>\n
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said opioids, including heroin, are the leading cause of overdose fatalities in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
Having more than one depressant in your body significantly increases the risk of an overdose, as it can result in the body beginning to shut down.<\/p>\n
She said heroin, also known as Smack, Brown, Dope, Horse, wasn\u2019t new to New Zealand, but had \u201ca very small and likely declining presence\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"New]()
New Zealand Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
However, data sets tended to combine opioids, so it could be hard to say with certainty. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen a small number of heroin samples in drug checking clinics in the past year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
One way to prevent opioid fatalities was improved access to naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdose. <\/p>\n
Overseas, heroin was commonly laced with fentanyl, a powerful opioid, which if present can be detected using fentanyl testing strips.<\/p>\n
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Knox wasn\u2019t charged in relation to her death, he did face five drug charges, including supplying or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59500,13916,31036,1873,3401,1757,33445,2082,14154,6288,37232,134125,3958,100343,9933,2250,5158,3369,111,43,139,69,90,33446,5763,3374,5977,102,1354],"class_list":["post-340317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-allen","tag-asked","tag-asks","tag-charges","tag-drug","tag-drugs","tag-fatally","tag-for","tag-give","tag-hamilton","tag-heavier","tag-illicit","tag-judge","tag-knox","tag-later","tag-longer","tag-man","tag-matthew","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-overdosed","tag-sentence","tag-supplying","tag-which","tag-with","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}