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A Christchurch engineer who hid the clothes of a budding young American polo player after he died in his spa pool from a drug overdose has been jailed.
Joseph Douglas McGirr, 39, was sentenced by the Christchurch District Court on Friday to 20 months in prison on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and cultivating cannabis.
Judge Tom Gilbert said that he did not believe that a non-custodial sentence was appropriate in McGirr’s case, as his actions in the past created the impression that he thought that “the rules do not apply to [him]”And that” compliance with court orders is optional. “
The judge also noted that McGirr was a successful engineer and said there was evidence in court that the professional body, Engineering New Zealand, was considering canceling his registration.
READ MORE:
* Joseph McGirr breaches his bond
* Man charged after the death of an American polo star in Christchurch.
* American woman Lauren Biddle was not injured when she was found unconscious in the spa pool, according to a report
The night 22-year-old Lauren Biddle died at McGirr’s home, McGirr was subject to a curfew after a conviction for driving under the influence and was wearing an electronically monitored ankle bracelet.
Judge Gilbert said the aggravating characteristics of McGirr’s crime included that it was related to someone’s death, that he was in community detention at the time, and that his use of alcohol and drugs was a clear violation of his sentence.
“There was a real sense of arrogance in your actions: sitting in a spa pool with your companions, wearing your electronic ankle bracelet, cultivating drugs, drinking, smoking drugs, snorting drugs, and not thinking twice about the prayer you were supposed to. be complying, ”said the judge.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Joseph Douglas McGirr in Christchurch District Court during his trial.
McGirr went to trial last year on two charges of supplying a class B controlled drug and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He pleaded guilty to the cannabis cultivation charge at the beginning of the trial.
Biddle was found dead in the spa pool of McGirr’s home near Sumner in Christchurch on October 22, 2018.
An autopsy found that he had a concentration of MDMA in his system approximately 15 times higher than the usual level of recreational use of the drug. A forensic pathologist said the most likely cause of death was a drug overdose that resulted in sudden cardiac arrest.
Biddle had spent the night at McGirr’s house, along with his close friend, Guy Higginson. The evening was largely spent in the spa pool on the house’s second-floor terrace, and the alcohol flowed freely: beer, wine, RTD, and rum gulped straight from the bottle.
McGirr, Higginson, and Biddle also smoked cannabis.
During the trial, the Crown alleged that McGirr offered Higginson and Biddle lines of crushed ecstasy, which they snorted more than once. McGirr denied having supplied the drug to his guests, telling the jury that the couple went to the kitchen “uninvited”, crushed ecstasy tablets there and inhaled it “of their own free will.”
SUPPLIED
Lauren Biddle had been in New Zealand for less than two weeks when she died.
The jury accepted that there was insufficient evidence to show that McGirr had provided the ecstasy to Biddle and Higginson.
When Biddle fell unconscious in the spa pool, she was pulled out of the water and underwent CPR in an attempt to revive her. Emergency personnel declared her dead at 1:20 a.m. on the street in front of the house.
Before the police arrived, McGirr was on a cleaning frenzy. He put the lid back on the spa, dumped bottles and cans, took cannabis plants out of the pots and tossed them into the undergrowth in front of the house.
He took Biddle’s clothes and bag in the leaf-covered section and covered it with leaves.
The Crown said McGirr did that because he knew Biddle was dead and that the police would come. He wanted to erase any signs that she had been there.
New Zealand Police
Lauren Biddle’s bag and the jandals were found in the undergrowth in front of Joseph Douglas McGirr’s house.
McGirr said it was “not a conscious decision” to bury Biddle’s clothes, and he did so in an effort to commemorate her. The jury rejected his claim that burying the clothes was an act of “spiritual reconciliation” and not an attempt to thwart the police investigation.
McGirr’s breach of bail is “eerily similar” to the night Biddle died.
After the trial, McGirr was placed in preventive custody until his sentence. About two weeks ago he was arrested for violating the conditions of his bail after consuming alcohol.
Police were called to McGirr’s home on February 20 due to a noise complaint. They found McGirr sitting in a spa with a friend, drinking and playing loud music. Judge Gilbert said the situation was “eerily similar” to the night Biddle died.
“When the police arrived shortly after 2 am, they saw you running naked down the hall. Then he disappeared from the property. Police found several empty wine bottles at his home. They came back several hours later to find that you had returned home and were still intoxicated. “
According to McGirr’s attorney, Rupert Glover, his client went to sleep in South Brighton Beach after running away from home.
“Clearly, his decision-making about drug and alcohol use remains problematic,” Judge Gilbert said.
It gave McGirr permission to apply for a house arrest sentence, but only to a residential drug and alcohol treatment program.
