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0 1 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 7 Judges weigh fantasy man's 'weak heart'
The Dominion Post Former champion body builder Justin Rys, serving 10 years' jail for importing drugs, should have his sentence reduced because of new evidence about his life expectancy, his lawyer says.
The judge who sentenced Rys last year did not have significant material now available from Rys' cardiologist and psychiatrist, defence lawyer Christopher Stevenson told the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Rys, 30, might live only 5 or 10 years more and could die suddenly.
He could also recover but a special low-fat diet that he needed for his health to improve was not available to him in prison, Mr Stevenson said.
The Court of Appeal reserved its decision on Rys' appeal against his sentence.
Past steroid use while body building has damaged the health of the former Mr New Zealand and Mr Oceania, Mr Stevenson said.
The Corrections Department had allocated drug counselling for Rys, but not until 2012, he said.
Rys had arranged a private counsellor, who the authorities had blocked from treating him. It now seemed the counsellor might be allowed back to see Rys.
Mr Stevenson said Rys had a mental disorder that reduced his moral blameworthiness for importing the drugs.
He became hooked on fantasy and was importing it before it was reclassified and made illegal.
His poor health prospects made him fatalistic and he continued even after it was made a crime.
Rys' partner in the importation of more than 200 litres of fantasy, Robert Stark, was jailed for three years and has already been released.
Stark had been treated as having a lesser role but Rys maintained they were equals, Mr Stevenson said.
Rys had always felt particularly wounded at the approach Stark took in laying the blame on Rys.
Crown lawyer Stephanie Edwards said she did not accept that the sentence should be reduced based on the conditions Rys faced in prison.
However, the heart condition could be seen as a plea for mercy and a cut might be appropriate on that ground.
More detailed information was available now about Rys' health, but the sentencing judge had known the overall issues, she said.
She emphasised the large scale and sophisticated importations made over about 15 months.
Rys said he was using a lot of the fantasy himself but it was four times more than anything he would have needed for his own consumption.
The fantasy importations came at a time when Rys was on bail for importing growth hormones without a licence, and after he had received a deferred sentence for that offending. 2 4 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 7 Court thins term for 'megarexic'
The Dominion Post Bodybuilder Justin Rys, whose jail sentence has been cut from 10 and a half to 7 and a half years, has a mental disorder called megarexia that means he sees his bulging muscles as puny.
A psychiatrist's report about the disorder was given to the Court of Appeal judges who yesterday reduced the former Mr New Zealand's term, meaning he will first be eligible for parole in July next year.
Rys, of Waikanae, had pleaded guilty to importing the class B drug fantasy over a 15-month period, in amounts thought to be worth at least $600,000 and perhaps up to $2 million, to use himself and to sell.
He appealed against the 10 and a half year term on the grounds that it was excessive, especially given new evidence about his physical and mental state.
The court accepted the sentencing judge had started his calculation for the term too high, resulting in a "crushing" end sentence for Rys.
It said the new psychiatric evidence was more important than the heart condition to the sentence appeal.
Rys became hooked on fantasy when it was legal.
In 2002 it was made illegal but Rys continued to use it for purposes that included reducing pain while exercising.
Psychiatrist Dr Tony Marks had said Rys' drug crimes were largely the result of his untreated and unrecognised "muscle dysmorphia" known as megarexia.
His disorder was the catalyst for the drug addiction, Dr Marks said.
"Mr Rys maintains a delusion that he is small and tiny, when physical appearances suggest the contrary," the Court of Appeal said.
Cardiologist Professor Stewart Mann said Rys's heart was also damaged, almost certainly because of his use of anabolic steroids and other drugs he used to help his body building.
Rys' lawyer Christopher Stevenson said the effect of the evidence was that Rys may die in prison and will probably only live for five to 10 years more.
However, the Court of Appeal said his condition seemed to have stabilised, perhaps because he did not have access to drugs in prison.
Rys' drug counsellor Roger Brooking wrote that Rimutaka Prison recorded Rys as having raised cholesterol levels, breathlessness and dietary problems in 2006.
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
