A Christchurch man’s attempt to import 500 stun-guns from China was a disaster – he was prosecuted, he lost the $2000 he paid, and the weapons were duds anyway.

The sorry venture was outlined in the Christchurch District Court today when Trent Colin Henderson, 41, was sentenced to community detention over the episode.

Officers raided his Rolleston home after the shipment of stun-guns that looked like torches was intercepted at the Auckland Mail Centre.

They found a cannabis growing operation and $2180 cash, but Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams said the prosecution could not argue that the operation had been commercial and the money should be forfeited. Henderson explained that the money had come from recent online sales of other items.

Mr Williams suggested a fine of about that amount anyway, and Judge Stephen O’Driscoll agreed, so Henderson will have to pay $2000 as well.

Henderson had admitted charges of cultivating cannabis, unlawful possession of shotgun shells leftover from when he went duckshooting, attempting to import restricted weapons, possession of five other stun-guns that were found at his home, and importing those stun-guns in an earlier shipment.

When Customs checked the shipment of 500 stun-guns that were listed as “flashlights” on the documentation, they found they had parts missing and the shock they would deliver would not “wholly or partially incapacitate the recipient”.

Defence counsel Louise Denton said Henderson had imported the stun-guns without much forethought because he had been offered the whole shipment at a low rate. He had not really decided what he was going to do with them but he may have sold them online.

He had been self-medicating with cannabis for pain arising from serious injuries in a motorcycle accident in 2010. The court was told he had been paralysed from the neck down for two years after the accident, and now walked with a crutch.

Judge O’Driscoll noted that the charge had been reduced to attempting to import the restricted weapon because they had turned out to be duds. If he had imported 500 effective stun-guns it would have been a much more serious matter.

He took Henderson’s continuing medical issues into account in imposing a four-month community detention sentence, with a $2000 fine, and ordered that the seized items be destroyed.

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A 43-year-old Rangiora man was sent to jail for three burglaries of small rural schools that were left messy, damaged, and caused the children distress.

Judge Emma Smith said Dean Richard Mehrtens thought targeting schools would cause less hardship than the burglary of one family, but his premeditated, determined ransacking of the schools created more victims.

Crown prosecutor Nicola Pointer said Mehrtens had nine previous burglary convictions, and the victim impact report said the burglaries caused psychological damage to the children of the schools.

Defence counsel Andrew McCormick said Mehrtens was a hardworking man until he had a car accident. His pain management got him addicted to morphine, and then a relationship with a woman who was also addicted to drugs escalated his problem.

Judge Smith said in May 2015 Mehrtens jemmied the office door of the Waiau Primary School and ransacked the drawers and cupboards. He left a nasty mess, took $230 cash and caused $290 damage.

In June he ripped the rear door of Darfield High School off its hinges and determinedly ransacked six offices by ripping off cupboard doors. Their repairs totalled $1430.

At the Darfield Primary School Mehrtens took two cash boxes and did $650 worth of damage.

She said the offending was to sustain his drug habit, but he had targeted places where staff worked hard, and had to do so much with so little.

She sentenced Mehrtens to 28 months prison and ordered reparation payments to the schools totalling over $2600.

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Electronically monitored bail has been granted to James Stedman Roberts, who has been in custody since June charged with the murder of his stepson, Leon Michael leFleming Jayet-Cole.

The bail was granted in a reserved decision released today by Justice Rachel Dunningham after a hearing two days ago in the High Court at Christchurch.

Reporting of the details of bail hearings is strictly controlled by the Bail Act, and in this case Justice Dunningham has banned publication of the conditions imposed.

The 34-year-old labourer, from Redwood, is charged with murdering Leon, an autistic boy aged five, on May 27. The police said at the time that Leon had received multiple injuries, including head injuries, and had died after his admission to hospital.

The case is now set down for a pre-trial hearing on February 18.

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Bail was refused for a man charged with firearms offences after a raid on a property in McGregors Road, Linwood, on Thursday afternoon.

Gary Mark De Latour, 48, whose address was given as McGregors Road, was remanded in custody after an appearance in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

After hearing the bail application by defence counsel Michael Knowles, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll remanded De Latour to December 21 on charges of unlawful possession of a shotgun and ammunition, and a rifle.

His next court appearance will be by video-link from Christchurch Men’s Prison.

De Latour was remanded without plea.

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Bail was not sought for an Oxford man who faced an armed robbery charge at an appearance in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

Jed Mathew Waghorn, 21, was remanded in custody to December 16 without plea and defence counsel Serina Bailey said the delay would give the police a chance to check a new proposed address ahead of a bail application.

Waghorn, a plasterer, was one of two people arrested after a weekend incident when armed police responded to a complaint that a man had been robbed between Cust and Pegasus.

Waghorn and 27-year-old Karla Melissa McDonald were arrested when the armed police went to a property in Burnt Hill Road, Oxford.

They have been jointly charged with robbing a man of his wallet and two cell phones while armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

McDonald, of Wainoni, applied for bail later in the day, and it was granted by Judge Alistair Garland who remanded her without plea to December 29.

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A teenager charged with lighting a fire in the dunes at South Brighton last week has told the Christchurch District Court that he has had to go to hospital for a burn to his wrist.

The 17-year-old was back in court today on a new charge of unlawful possession of two rounds of .22 ammunition on Monday and a breach of bail.

When he appeared in court, his counsel Tom Stevens explained that Jayvan James Simms, of Wainoni, had not reported to the police as part of his bail requirements because he had to go to the Christchurch Hospital’s Emergency Department for treatment for a burn on his wrist.

He was released on bail when he appeared in court last week charged with recklessly setting light to vegetation when he ought to have known that it would put life in danger. Several homes had to be evacuated during the sand dune fire on November 30.

Police did not oppose Simms being released on bail again and Judge Brian Callaghan remanded him on bail to December 22, which is also his next appearance date on the arson charge.

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A 39-year-old man’s Facebook chat with an under-age teen, months after he had sex with her, was described as “depraved” by the judge who jailed him for three years nine months.

Judge David Saunders said the requests made to the girl by Cameron Myles Raine over Facebook “shows that you had descended into a depraved lifestyle devoid of any decency”.

Raine had suggested what she should do in photographs he requested on the social media site.

Raine was facing sentencing in the Christchurch District Court after pleading guilty to a charge of sexual connection with a young person, providing cannabis to a person aged under 18, and an objectionable publications charge over the Facebook activity.

Crown prosecutor Karyn South said the sexual activity had involved full intercourse and there was now “no sense whatever of remorse in this man”.

“There is a large amount of victim blaming going on,” she said.

Defence counsel Phillip Allan said Raine had pleaded guilty at the first reasonable opportunity, and accepted that he was responsible for his present predicament.

Judge Saunders said Raine had been assessed as “self-righteous” at the pre-sentence interview.

He suggested that while in prison, Raine should go through a drug and alcohol treatment programme, and there should be a full psychological report ahead of any appearance before the Parole Board where his release could be considered.

The victim read her victim impact statement in court, telling how she had been to counselling and suffered from nightmares since the offending. Until Raine was held in custody, she feared that he would come after her.

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A woman was sentenced to home detention after admitting she was a regular contact for the domestic trafficking of methamphetamine to Christchurch from the North Island in early 2014.

In the Christchurch District Court, 28-year-old Phillippa Erin Sigvertsen was sentenced on charges of conspiring to supply methamphetamine on March 6 2014, and offering to supply methamphetamine between February and March 2014.

Sigvertsen was found in a motel room in Blenheim Road with a backpack containing 6.7mg of methamphetamine, and $7333 in cash.

One co-offender, Tamal Edward McMeekan, a 34-year-old salesman, was sentenced in April to prison for seven years nine months after pleading guilty to two charges of possession of methamphetamine for supply, two of unlawful possession of a pistol, possession of implements for using methamphetamine, dealing in methamphetamine, and possession of cannabis for supply.

The other man, 46-year-old Arthur Mohi, will be sentenced in January on a methamphetamine charge.

Judge David Saunders said Sigvertsen was a first offender, and in a different category to the co-offenders.

He sentenced her to 11 months home detention, with conditions that she not consume alcohol or other drugs and do any rehabilitation or counselling directed by her probation officer.

He told the heavily pregnant Sigvertsen that he hoped she would be a productive member of the community and keep well away from the methamphetamine scene.

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A 17-year-old has admitted his involvement in the violent robbery of a Woolston liquor store.

Tamatea Lorenzo Briggs, of Linwood, is the third to admit taking part in the August 29 incident in which a sales assistant had full bottles of alcohol smashed over his head.

Two other offenders aged 15 and 16 have admitted aggravated robbery charges in the Youth Court jurisdiction because of their age.

Briggs was older and has been dealt with in the District Court where he has pleaded guilty to charges of assault – not part of the robbery – and being an accessory after the robbery.

He did not enter the liquor store, but drove the vehicle that was used.

Briggs was remanded to April 13 for a Crown sentencing. A pre-sentence report and a victim impact report have been ordered ahead of the sentencing.

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A teenager’s positive attitude to adversity has stunned a sentencing session where his employer was ordered to pay $83,000 for the leg injury he received on his fifth day on the job.

Counsel for the employers, Benchmark Construction Ltd, Diana Hudson, described the 17-year-old’s victim impact statement as “astonishing”.

Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan said he had “hardly ever been so impressed” as he was by Jack Fairmaid’s resolve to go forward and his view of life in general.

The company had admitted failing to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of an employee at work in the accident at a Kaiapoi subdivision on January 16, when a bucket fell from an excavator and landed on Fairmaid, who was working in a trench, badly breaking his leg.

Judge Callaghan fined the company $43,000 and ordered it to pay the agreed figure of $40,000 to the victim to ensure his education.

Fairmaid wants to qualify as a mechanical engineer. At the time of the accident he was a Christchurch Boys’ High School student who began the work as a holiday job on January 12.

Counsel for Worksafe New Zealand which brought the prosecution, Jacinta Bowe, said the hazard was the inadequately secured excavator bucket.

The excavator was an unfamiliar, hired machine but the company had failed to identify the new hazard by ensuring the bucket was properly attached to the excavator arm.

Hudson said Benchmark had been impressed from the start by Fairmaid’s attitude the job and his keenness to learn. His victim impact statement had been astonishing.

“His articulation of his positive attitude is outstanding,” she said. The company’s directors had been devastated by what happened and the consequences for the teenager.

Fairmaid was at court but his statement was read out by his father, Shane Fairmaid.

Jack detailed how the injury occurred and how the blood-loss made him think he would die. He described the long road to recovery, the series of surgeries, and his milestones.

His father said he had been informed by St John Ambulance staff that the actions taken at the accident scene by young Benchmark staff had “more than likely saved Jack’s life”.

Jack Fairmaid said he was not angry at anyone after the accident that wrecked his leg with a massive wound and fracture. He realised he could do most things he could do before – but with restrictions.

He would be susceptible to arthritis and could no longer play rugby.

He had been told he should not ride his motorcycle, but he planned to put on a leg brace and do that anyway. “I wish them luck in trying to stop me doing this,” he said.

Judge Callaghan said: “Hardly ever have I been as impressed as today on hearing about Jack’s view about life in general and his resolve to go forward and put this all behind him.

“Such a positive attitude is reassuring. No doubt it is in part because of a supportive family.”

He noted that Benchmark was a family-based business. It is based in Alexandra, Central Otago.

The accident happened with an unfamiliar machine, when the safety pin was not engaged and there had been no instructions given to staff about it.

“The company has accepted its responsibilities,” he said, imposing the penalties.

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A man who forced a lockdown at Medbury School after he was being sought for an armed robbery of the Ilam Mobil Service Station nearby was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court.

Twenty-year-old Nico Wiremu robbed the Creyke Road service station of $250 cash while armed with a firearm about 1.50pm on September 8.

One of the parents alerted the school to the aggravated robbery and they kept pupils inside the grounds for 30 minutes until the police advised it was safe for them to leave.

Wiremu was also sentenced for possession of the class C controlled drug benzylpiperazine, previously sold as party pills before they were banned, theft, unlawfully taking a car, and drunk and dangerous driving.

Defence counsel Linda Drummond said the victim impact report said it was a traumatising experience for the victim of the aggravated robbery, who was in court for the sentencing.

She said Wiremu had begun treatment in prison for his issues with drugs and alcohol.

Judge Raoul Neave said that on July 3 Wiremu stole a camera, amplifier, and money from a house he was working in.

While on bail for that charge, on July 19, while drunk, he took his mother’s car and lost control of it.

On September 8 he pointed an air pistol at the sole attendant of the service station, and demanded money. He was given about $250, and walked away.

Wiremu’s pre-sentence report said he didn’t remember some of the things he had done because he was so drunk, but Judge Neave said that no matter how drunk Wiremu was, he should still know what was right or wrong.

He said Wiremu was assessed as a high risk of re-offending, and sentenced him to three years four months prison, and disqualified him from driving for six months.

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A judge has rejected a Kaikoura helicopter pilot’s claim that he was justified in flying without a current medical certificate on two rescue missions.
Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch imposed fines totalling $5800 on Dave Armstrong, who may have saved an injured tramper’s life on one of the missions in April 2014.
He flew when his medical certificate had been revoked by the Director of Civil Aviation after he had suffered what was diagnosed as a mini-stroke in 2012.
Armstrong pleaded guilty at the Kaikoura District Court in October to two charges of flying without his medical certificate, and a third charge relating to incorrect log-book entries which hid his flying.
Judge Couch said he could not conclude that Armstrong was the only option as a pilot for these flights.
On the first occasion, another pilot had been present but Armstrong had concluded that his own skill and knowledge of the terrain meant he should fly the helicopter.
On the second occasion – a search for overdue kayakers in the Clarence River – there was no emergency and no possible justification for Armstrong’s flight of more than an hour with another pilot and a policeman on board. During the flight, a message was received that the kayakers had been found.
Defence counsel Craig Ruane had argued that Armstrong should be discharged without conviction because if the convictions were entered it would send an awkward message to the rescue community.
Pilots would be unwilling to fly in similar circumstances even when they were the only option or the last resort, because they knew they would face prosecution and conviction by the Civil Aviation authorities.
Prosecutor Chris Macklin said the Director of Civil Aviation did not accept that, and discharges without conviction would send a very unhelpful message about the compliance with the regulations. He did not accept that it would send any unacceptable message to rescuers.
Most interest in the case centred on an incident on April 5, 2015, when a tramper fell and broke his femur in the Puhipuhi Valley and was left lying in a precarious position. His companion used her outer clothing to tie him in position and stop him falling further.
A doctor warned that he could have died if left overnight. A rescue helicopter from Christchurch was unable to find the injured man and make the rescue and the police then approached Kaikoura Helicopters Ltd. Armstrong decided to fly, making two short flights in deteriorating light and weather conditions to drop the doctor and rescuers in to the scene, and the injured man was brought out by stretcher, overland.
The injured tramper, Scott Lee, met Armstrong at the Kaikoura Court House in October when Armstrong pleaded guilty. Lee regards him as a hero for having saved his life.
The police were not told at the time of the flights that Armstrong was not certificated to fly. If they were told, they would not have allowed the flights to go ahead.
Judge Couch said that on both flights on April 5 and the search for the kayakers on April 21, if Armstrong had suffered an even momentary loss of awareness or control there would have been a serious risk for the people on board.
It was clear that Armstrong was well informed about the suspension of his medical certification, and his offending was deliberate, measured, and premeditated.
He had invoiced the police for the rescue flying, as usual.
He had also admitted to other flights so the offences were “not isolated events but were part of a pattern of unlawful behaviour”.
He said he could not conclude that the consequences of the convictions would outweight the gravity of the offending – which would have allowed him to consider a discharge – and imposed the convictions and fines.

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A Lyttelton man has made two court appearances in the same day after allegedly snatching a handbag soon after his release from custody at the Christchurch Court House.

Police opposed bail for Aaron Ross Groube, 26, when he made his return appearance in the Christchurch District Court.

Groube had been granted a registrar’s remand when he appeared at the Court House yesterday morning, charged with the December 7 burglary of a house at Lyttelton.

He was granted the remand without having to appear before a judge, and was due to be back at the court on January 11 after getting legal advice.

Police then allege he tried to snatch a handbag from a woman on Durham Street – along the road from the Court House – about 10am. The woman was pushed over and the offender got away with her handbag but was stopped by two men in the South City Shopping Centre carpark and held until police arrived.

Groube was then charged with robbery and brought back to the Court House for an afternoon appearance on the same day before Judge Jane McMeeken.

Duty lawyer Phillip Allan argued for bail to be granted in spite of the police opposition. The judge refused bail and remanded Groube in custody to December 29.

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A 40-year-old Redwood man has been charged with unlawfully washing windows at a busy Christchurch intersection.

Gary Lee Cooper, a labourer, was charged with breaching the new Christchurch by-law at the corner of Northcote Road and Main North Road on August 18.

His case was listed for hearing in the Justices of the Peace session dealing mainly with traffic prosecutions at the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

However, Cooper did not appear at court. Because he is only faced with a fine if he is convicted, no arrest warrant was issued. Instead, the case was remanded for a formal proof hearing on January 12 when the police will present their case whether he is present or not.

Cooper is charged with “providing window washing services to stationary motorists in return for payment without written authority of the Christchurch City Council”.

The maximum fine under the city council bylaw is $20,000. It came into force in Christchurch in July, when police began issuing warnings to window washers for about a month.

Cooper’s case will be one of the first prosecutions to reach court.

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An Aranui man is being held in custody after allegations he took an upskirt photograph of a woman at Northlands shopping centre on Saturday.

The man is said to have been caught by a private security contractor working at the mall.

Maurice Hemi Williams, 31, appeared before Judge Brian Callaghan in the Christchurch District Court today and was remanded in custody for an appearance on December 29.

He has entered no pleas to charges of intentionally making an intimate visual recording of another person and breaching a protection order by behaviour which amounted to psychological abuse.

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Three Mongrel Mob Notorious chapter members who conducted a violent raid on the home of a resigning gang ex-president have been jailed for a total of more than 40 years.

The group burst into gang salutes and swearing in the dock as the sentences were imposed.

Crown prosecutor Anselm Williams confirmed in court that the victim of the mob attack had since died of a heart attack but his death could not be linked to the injuries he received.

His health had deteriorated since the attack at his family’s New Brighton home on December 4, 2014. During the incident, he was struck on the head three times with the blunt end of a tomahawk, his teenage sons were assaulted as they tried to intervene, and his car and motorcycle were damaged.

Christchurch District Court Judge Alistair Garland said at the sentencing: “This court hears all too frequently what can happen to those who try to extricate themselves from the gang culture.”

The judge detailed the violence carried out by the mob members, according to the evidence presented at the nine-day trial.

The three mobsters – from the Notorious Timaru chapter – said at the trial that they had gone to the property for a friendly talk and were surprised by the violence that erupted.

Tamati John Hetariki, 35, the “captain” of the mob’s Notorious chapter in Timaru, was jailed for 13 years 6 months.

Kyle Peter Livesey, 29, was jailed for 13 years 9 months.

Clinton Benjamin Simon, 31, a gang prospect, was jailed for 13 years 9 months.

In each case a non-parole term of six years was imposed before they can be considered for release.

The men had been convicted at trial of wounding the ex-member with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assaulting his two teenage sons with weapons, and intentionally damaging the ex-president’s car and motorcycle. There were a total of 15 charges – two were admitted before the trial began. For many of the offences, the men were convicted of being parties to each other’s violence.

For Hetariki, Tim Fournier said his client had been the leader of the group, and had been in a position to exercise restraint on behalf of the others, but had not done so. He pointed out that a woman had given evidence that Hetariki had said she was not to be touched, and she wasn’t.

For Livesey, Nick Rout said his client had not inflicted any of the blows directly, on the victim. During the incident, Livesey had been struck with a shovel and stabbed by a woman, and then left.

“He has had to regard the Mongrel Mob as his family for most of his life,” said Mr Rout, noting that Livesey had served two previous jail terms. “It is difficult for someone in his position to come back within society.”

Simon’s defence counsel, Lee Lee Heah, said excessive self-defence could not be ruled out by the jury’s verdicts. The violence was not premeditated, she said. The trio had not gone to the house armed with any weapons that were consistent with a plan to inflict really serious injury.

The axe used in the incident had been thrown from the house, and was then used “in the heat of the moment”.

Judge Garland said the attack was akin to gang warfare and was punishment for the victim leaving the gang. It was extreme violence, unprovoked and gratuitous, clearly premeditated. They had intended to cause grievous bodily harm or knew it was a probably consequence of their actions.

They had caused very serious and lasting injury to the victim, and it was just a matter of luck that the injuries were not more debilitating or even fatal.

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A 23-year-old man has been jailed for 28 months for shooting and killing a woman’s precious horse in revenge for a relationship break-up.

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish said the shooting by Ryan Thomas Finlinson was an implied threat that if he could shoot the horse, he could do the same to the woman involved.

The judge quoted from the woman’s statement to the Probation Service. “She says it was the closest thing to shooting her. She indicated she lost her most prized possession – the thing she loved most in the world.”

The judge said the shooting was akin to other acts of vengeance, which sometimes involved burning down houses at the time of relationship break-ups.

She ordered Finlinson – who has only a drink-driving and a careless driving on his record – to pay $10,000 to the woman immediately for the loss of the horse, and for the SKS7.62mm rifle he used to be destroyed by the police.

Finlinson works on two dairy farms, and is a recreational hunter.

Judge Farish said his offending was in “an unprecedented category”.

Defence counsel Kiran Paima urged that home detention sentence should be imposed. Finlinson had “reacted to a set of circumstances he was unable to process”. The shooting of the horse had not been sadistic, or an act of prolonged cruelty. He was remorseful straight afterwards, now had insight into his offending, and had offered payment.

But Judge Farish said the aggravating factors were that the horse he destroyed was the woman’s beloved pet, and that a firearm had been used in the context of domestic violence.

She said Finlinson had admitted charges of assault and destroying the horse, knowing that it would cause loss to the woman.

The incident happened after the three-year relationship ended. Finlinson had moved out but was unhappy with the break-up. The woman said he made threats to shoot the horse, or shoot himself.

He went to the woman’s house on May 1 and found the woman there, with another man. He pushed the man into a wall, but did not injure him.

He then went to a paddock nearby and shot the woman’s horse twice through the head as an act of vengeance.

The shooting caused the woman extreme distress and left her devastated when she found the horse dead in its paddock. “You wanted her to feel like you did,” Judge Farish told Finlinson.

The pre-sentence reports indicated he had little insight into his offending, and was assessed as a high risk of causing serious harm unless there was some intervention.

He was apologetic for he harm to the horse, but the judge said: “I think you have a long way to go to understand the effects of your offending on the woman, and understanding of the harm you have caused to her.”

The sentence was too long for home detention to be considered but Judge Farish said she would not have granted it even if the sentence had been shorter, because of the level of violence.

She also ordered him to pay $201 for the removal of the dead horse.

Finlinson returned to court soon after the sentencing for Mr Paima to ask for bail pending an appeal against his sentence, which cannot be heard over the holidays. Judge Farish declined.

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Two people were killed in a crash on Christchurch’s Northern Motorway when a driver had an epileptic seizure at a time he should have been banned from driving.

The driver, Nicholas Mathew Shaw, 34, today pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to two charges of careless driving causing death, and was remanded for sentencing on February 24.

A pre-sentence report will be prepared before then, and the case has been referred for a possible restorative justice meeting between Shaw and the victims’ families.

Crown prosecutor Chris Lange said that since 2000, Shaw had suffered from epilepsy in the form of partial seizures in which there is an abrupt onset of a suspension of awareness.

He was forbidden to drive for a year and his licence was only reinstated when he had been free from seizures for a year.

In November 2006, he was involved in a single vehicle accident on Lineside Road in Rangiora and it was decided it was caused by a seizure. He was in another accident on the Northern Motorway in November 2009, and when medical staff believed it was caused by a seizure he was forbidden from driving.

Shaw’s last reported seizure was in May 2010 and he regained his licence in May 2011.

In December 2014, while at work on a building site, be suffered a complex partial seizure. He did not report the incident to his doctor and as a result he was not forbidden to drive.

“He continued to drive motor vehicles despite the obvious risk to himself and the public,” Mr Lange told the court.

About 5.10pm on May 10 this year, Shaw was driving his Toyota van south on the Northern Motorway, near the Waimakariri Bridge.

Before beginning to cross the bridge, Shaw felt funny, and considered pulling to the side, but before he could take any action he had a seizure and lost all control.

His van accelerated heavily and swerved, catching up to a vehicle towing a trailer about 200m ahead and crashing into the back of the trailer.

The impact pushed the vehicle and trailer to the left down a grass bank where the vehicle rolled and struck a tree.

The impact crushed the cab of the vehicle, instantly killing the two occupants, David Evans and Grant Corlett.

Shaw continued driving for another 800m before being stopped by witnesses.

He explained that he had a history of seizures but had not suffered one since about 2010.

“He stated that he had no recollection of the accident, and only regained awareness when he was removed from his vehicle,” Mr Lange said.

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A bail application will be made next week for a man who appeared in court facing drugs charges after a series of police raids across Christchurch during the day.

Scott Andrew Swarbrick, 36, whose address was given as no fixed abode, central Christchurch, entered no plea to five charges and was remanded in custody to Tuesday for a lawyer to be assigned and for a bail application to be prepared.

He is charged with offering to supply the class A drug methamphetamine, conspiring with persons unknown to supply it, offering to sell cannabis and methamphetamine, and possession of methamphetamine for supply.

A 35-year-old Christchurch man was released on police bail to appear in court, also on December 22, charged with burglary.

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One of the men who raided a tinny house because he said they were “selling drugs to the kids in the community”, was sentenced to four years two months prison with no chance of parole.

It was a second strike offence for 30-year-old Chance Mangukaha Beazley, who is the son of the deceased South Island Black Power president Ardie Beazley.

When he was read the second strike warning Beazley told the Christchurch District Court and Judge Jane Farish that he went to the tinny house to protect his sister, and did not assault anyone, but taught the people there a lesson financially.

Beazley, who described himself in court as a vigilante, said he was trying to do his best, and wanted to be a better person, but he was born into a gang family.

Beazley was sentenced on two charges of aggravated robbery, which happened while he was on release conditions for a violent offence where he had been read a first strike warning.

Beazley’s co-offender, 27-year-old Simon Barry Sekai was earlier sentenced to jail for three years, and 19-year-old Corey Martin was sentenced to seven months’ home detention.

The fourth man, Tyrone George Michael Whittaker, 19, pleaded guilty to an aggravated robbery charge and will be sentenced on March 4.

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