An incident of alcohol-fuelled violence at a pub on Christchurch’s outskirts has cost a young Christchurch man the chance to play semi-professional rugby overseas.

Oliver William Sproat, 19, had to give up the chance to take up the contract in Australia because he remained on bail conditions in Christchurch, where he and his brother George Denton Sproat, 22, had both been charged.

The brothers have now been convicted and sentenced, with Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders giving them supervision and community work terms.

George Sproat will have to pay for the damage he did to the door at the Yaldhurst Tavern – which triggered the violence – while Oliver Sproat will have to pay $1000 emotional harm reparations to the security guard he bashed.

The pair took the case to trial where Oliver Sproat was found guilty of a charge of assault with intent to injure, and George Sproat was convicted of damaging the door and assault.

Judge Saunders said he accepted after seeing defence submissions and references for both men that the incident was out of character.

Defence counsel Craig Ruane said: “The explanation is obviously over-indulgence in alcohol. Both young men have learned a less from this. Oliver will be significantly affected, and has already lost one opportunity to play overseas.”

Judge Saunders said Oliver Sproat had brought the penalty on himself, with the consequences for his rugby career and his ability to travel overseas. “That’s something he’s going to have to live with.”

Police prosecutor Sergeant Neil Williams questioned whether community work was a sufficient deterrent sentence for such a serious assault.

The judge said he expected that both men would do things far more cautiously if they were able to turn the clock back to March 29, 2017, when the incident happened.

The pair were going out through a door at the tavern which was not to be used, and George Sproat damaged it, causing $756 damage. Two security staff then followed them down the road.

The judge said that if they had apologised and returned as to the hotel to talk about the matter as requested, it might have been dealt with by diversion – without injuries and without convictions.

But both men got into a fight with the security staff. Oliver Sproat broke one guard’s jaw, which had to be wired and causing the loss of two teeth. The judge described it as “a significant injury”.

He put both men on supervision for nine months with a condition that they undertake alcohol counselling or treatment as directed. George Sproat must do 80 hours of community work and pay for the door, and Oliver Sproat must do 120 hours and pay $1000 to the victim of his assault.

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Identification of an armed intruder who shot a man in the neck and shoulder is the key issue at a drugs robbery trial in the Christchurch District Court.

The Crown says cannabis was being dealt by occupants of the Bryndwr flat that 34-year-old Rory Manuel allegedly raided with another intruder in the early hours of December 29, 2018.

The other intruder had never been identified, Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett told the jury as the three-day trial began before Judge Jane Farish.

He said two men, wearing red and white tops, forced their way into the house and the Crown would say that Manuel was the “man in blue”.

He said Manuel was linked to the armed robbery by his identification from a photo montage by one of the victims, by his thumb print on a box at the crime scene, by his cellphone tracing him to a nearby cellphone tower at about that time, and by two distinct bottles of vodka taken in the robbery which were later found at his house.

He told the jury: “It should be a relatively simple and straightforward case.”

Manuel denied the charge of robbing three people at the address and causing grievous bodily harm to one of the victims during the robbery.

His defence counsel, Tim Fournier, told the jury there was only one issue at the trial.

“It is not whether or not you believe (Manuel) was the ‘man in blue’. The issue is, Has the Crown proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was?”

He asked the jurors to consider the circumstances in which the identification had been made, including how long the man was in view, the lighting in the area, what else was going on, the composure of the observer, and whether drugs had been consumed.

Mr Mallett said the Crown would call evidence from 16 witnesses, including two people at the robbery scene who would give evidence by video-link.

He said the shooting victim was at the flat with a man and a woman on the night of the robbery. The two men had been involved in selling cannabis and the three smoked methamphetamine during the evening.

They were watching a movie on television after 2am when there was a knock at the door. The door was then kicked or shoved open and a gun was pointed at the face of the man who had gone to open it.

Two men came in, one armed with a shotgun. The two male victims were ordered to lie face down and the woman was made to face the wall with a blanket over her head. She was told that if she didn’t stop screaming they would shoot her.

The intruders asked where the “money, drugs, and valuables” were. They then began searching and looting the property. They took laptops, cellphones, and two distinctive bottles of vodka, over the next 10 minutes. They took the wallet and watch from one of the men.

The shooting victim was asked to stand up and walk to a bathroom while the intruders began moving moving furniture around. The gun then went off, hitting him in the left side of the neck and shoulder.

The intruders left in the other man’s car, which was found burnt out on January 9.

The woman later identified Manuel from a photo montage as being the intruder dressed in blue and holding the gun.

Mr Mallett said Manuel’s right thumb print was found on a modem box at the address, and when his home in Shirley was searched, two of the same type of vodka bottles were found.

Cellphone records showed that at 2.12am, Manuel’s cellphone had connected with a cell tower close to the Bryndwr address where the robbery took place.

The robbery victim who was not shot, told the trial the men had been switching the shotgun between them during the incident. At one stage, they lifted the couch to look underneath it, and as it was let back down onto the floor the gun went off. The two intruders then ran out and took off in his car, which had already been loaded with items they had taken.

He thought the shooting had been accidental, he said.

The trial is continuing.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

“After six months, it still feels raw,” said burglary victim Ian Jones after seeing the man who raided his Redwood property jailed for five years.Mr Jones has followed the case of Joshua Lukic through all its sessions, and was again at the Christchurch District Court when Judge O’Driscoll jailed the 30-year-old drug addict today.

Lukic says his aim is to attend a residential drug treatment programme such as Odyssey House when he is released from prison.

Defence counsel Donald Dickson told the judge that Lukic had been using his time in custody on remand awaiting sentence to do a Bible studies course and was down to start an Open Polytechnic small business course.

Lukic had admitted seven burglaries, theft, two aggravated assaults as he tried to get away from a crime scene, dishonestly using a stolen credit card, escaping from the police, resisting police, interfering with a car, and twice failing to turn up at court while on bail.

Mr Jones commented afterwards: “He’s been sentenced but nothing’s changed. We haven’t got much back – some of the medals and none of the jewellery.”

He said he had been approached for a restorative justice meeting with Lukic but had declined. Lukic had taken things which were “pretty dear to the family” including his wife’s engagement ring, his mother’s ring, and his father’s fire service medals.

“If he gave some of the stuff back I might have met him,” said Mr Jones.

Judge O’Driscoll described how a 68-year-old woman felt “frightened, shattered and vulnerable” after one of the Lukic’s burglaries. Another had lost his grandmother’s wedding ring, which was all he had from his family.

Lukic had a history of offending, including violence, dishonesty, and failing to comply with court orders, going back to his teens. The main cause was his addiction to drugs. He would commit burglaries to get goods to sell and get cash to feed his addictions. He was still assessed as a high risk offender.

Lukic ended up in the dock after years of spiralling drug addiction. A sentencing session in 2012 was told that his parents had given his cannabis from the age of seven to deal with his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Lukic’s trail of criminal bungles was outlined in the documents the police presented to the court when he pleaded guilty to everything in March.

His palm print was found at the scene of a Harewood Road burglary in which $3700 worth of electronics gear including a laptop was taken.

His fingerprints were found at the scene of a house burglary in Johns Road, Belfast, in which jewellery and electrical items worth $7900 were taken.

His palm prints were found on a side window at a house in Dunbarton Street, Belfast, where the Jones family’s jewellery and medals worth $10,900 were taken.

His fingerprints were found at the scene of burglaries in Gibbon Street, Sydenham, and in Paddington Street, Northcote.

Lukic used a credit card stolen in a burglary to make purchases totalling $331 at five stores.

On June 9, he broke into a vehicle parked at Hornby Mall, searched it, and then returned to it twice more without finding anything to take.

On August 2, Lukic and an associate put hoods over their heads and kicked open the door of a property in Niagara Street, Wainoni. They searched the garage and were caught by police one minute after leaving.

In April 2016, Lukic stole an $1100 cellphone that a woman security guard at the WINZ Papanui office left on the counter. He had gone there to change his address. Cameras recorded the theft, and the registration number of the car he left in. The cellphone was recovered and returned to the victim.

In December 2016, Lukic and a woman associate had a credit card that had been taken in a burglary of a house in St James Street, Papanui. It was used repeatedly for purchases totalling $564 over the next few days. It was traced to the offenders because the woman used it to top up her cellphone, and when it was used at the Sydenham McDonalds, a car registered to Lukic’s mother was recorded in the drive-through.

When he was arrested at an address in Mairehau on December 18, Lukic ran off down the driveway and jumped over two fences before being caught – and then he punched a police constable and threw another to the ground before running off again.

He was caught again, but the police had suffered lumps and grazes from the encounter.

There was one more bungle to come. Mr Dickson said Lukic spent six weeks writing a letter to the sentencing judge, and then forgot to bring it to the court.

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A survivor of a triple-fatal car crash eight years ago is still struggling with post traumatic stress disorder as he begins a jail term for choking a woman unconscious and breaking her bones.
The victim, who had a brief relationship with Reece James Dick-Durham, was in court to see the 25-year-old jailed for four years six months by Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders.
The judge explained to her that because she was registered under the Victim Notification Register, she would be informed when Dick-Durham was to be considered for release on parole. She would be able to tell the Parole Board of her views by letter, or make submissions at the hearing.
If she were fearful, the board could protect her by imposing geographical boundaries that Dick-Durham would not be allowed to cross, he said.
The incident on January 15 happened when the woman returned to her home after some time away to find that unemployed Dick-Durham had been allowing other people to stay there.
In the argument that followed, Dick-Durham strangled her until she was unable to breathe and lost consciousness. When she tried to get away he threw a glass at her, which missed, and struck her repeatedly over the head with a metal frying pan until the pan broke.
The woman had broken and dislocated fingers, bruising to her arms, a head cut and potential fractured cheek bone.
Dick-Durham acknowledged that he “lost it” when the woman would not listen to him, and said he had stopped choking her “just in time”.
Defence counsel Linda Drummond said Dick-Durham had written letters for the judge and the victim and still hoped that a restorative justice meeting could take place with the woman after the jail term began.
She said: “He acknowledges the significant effect his use of methamphetamine had on his behaviour before and during this offending. He acknowledges it is a factor he has to address.”
Prosecutor Sophia Bicknell Young said the Crown was sceptical of Dick-Durham’s claims of remorse because of his comments in the pre-sentence report minimising his offending and not taking responsibility. It was vicious attack on a woman in her own home.
Judge Saunders said Dick-Durham had a lot of work to do in prison because of his over-indulgence and abuse of drugs. Before release, he would need to show the Parole Board that he had insight into the consequences of his use of drugs, particularly methamphetamine.
The pre-sentence report referred to an attitude of self-entitlement and a pattern of anti-social behaviour. He had been using P weekly.
Dick-Durham had admitted charges of injuring and wounding the woman with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and assaulting her using the glass as a weapon.
The judge referred to his continuing issues with post-traumatic stress disorder, eight years after the car crash in which three young people were killed in the car he was travelling in.
Worthy Redeemed, a born-again Christian aged 39 at the time, was a front-seat passenger in the car with Dick-Durham and the others when he yanked the steering wheel and sent the car into the path of an on-coming bus on State Highway 1 near Woodend, in North Canterbury.
Only Redeemed, formerly known as Lee Errol Silvester, and Dick-Durham survived the crash.
Redeemed was convicted at trial of three charges of manslaughter, and causing injury and grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard. Some of those on the bus were injured. He was jailed for 14 years in 2011.
Dick-Durham has had a difficult history since then with violent behaviour in spite of assistance from the local North Canterbury community, and convictions and jail sentences for assault with a weapon and aggravated assault.

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Three men charged with a $40 Friday night robbery at Rangiora have appeared at the Christchurch District Court.

Twenty-one-year-old Cai Evans, has denied the joint charge of robbing a man on Friday, and a charge of unlawful possession of a sawn-off shotgun at Rangiora on Tuesday. He elected trial by jury and was remanded to a case review hearing on July 25.

Community magistrate Jo Sihamu refused bail and remanded him in custody.

Jac Rhys Howells, 20, who lives at the same Rangiora address as Evans, faced the robbery charge and a charge of possession of cannabis. He applied for bail but the hearing was adjourned to Thursday so that the police could check the proposed bail address.

Heremai Steven Te Wake, 31, of Ohoka, faced a charge of robbery, two of unlawful possession of a .22 rifle, cultivation and possession of cannabis. He was also remanded in custody to Thursday for a check of a proposed bail address.

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After receiving a warning from the Inland Revenue Department, a Christchurch company director continued not paying PAYE for his concreting business for another 21 months.

The result is a tax shortfall of nearly $100,000 and Duncan James Litten Clarke facing sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on August 17.

Clarke, of Avonhead, admitted 33 tax offences stretching from 2013 to 2016 when he appeared before Judge Gary MacAskill. The judge remanded him on bail and asked for a pre-sentence report that will consider his suitability for a home detention or community detention sentence.

Prosecutor Ron Lemm told the court that Clarke, a 47-year-old who is now a self-employed glazier, set up Clarrten Concrete Placing Ltd in 2011. He was the sole director and shareholder. The company began employing staff from June 2012.

The company was placed into liquidation in March 2017, on the application of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue, owing $640,480 in various types of tax, including penalties and interest.

For 33 monthly tax periods between May 2013 and February 2017, the company failed to account for a total of $381,185 for PAYE, KiwiSaver employee deductions, student loan employer deductions, child support employer deductions, KiwiSaver employer contributions, and employer superannuation contributions by the due dates.

Late payments totalling $192,712 were received, and the liquidator paid $89,550 to the commissioner, so the final tax not accounted for was $98,922.

Clarke was the person responsible for the tax payments. He was cautioned in a phone call, and by letter, but Mr Lemm said the non-payment of PAYE continued for another 21 monthly tax periods after the warning.

Bank account analysis showed that the company had enough funds to pay the taxes on 31 out of the 33 periods when the tax offending occurred.

When he was interviewed, Clarke said he did not understand how PAYE was calculated but he knew that deductions were due every month. He said it was his responsibility to pay it and he would do so if there was enough money available.

Clarke admitted the charges of aiding and abetting the company to apply tax deductions for purposes that were not payments to the tax department.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

Three months after his release on parole from a life sentence for murder, Dean Raymond Purdy chopped off his electronic ankle bracelet in Dunedin and went on the run.

The 54-year-old is now back in custody and faces a hearing on June 12 at which the Parole Board will consider recalling him to prison to serve more of his life term.

Purdy has a history of absconding.

At age 27, in 1991, he was sentenced to life imprisonment after strangling his wife Debbie Purdy in Auckland, during an argument about her work as a prostitute. Her body was found in a toilet cubicle beside Karangahape Road in the city.

In 2008, he left the Salisbury Street Foundation in Christchurch, where he was attending a 16-week programme, and was free for two days before surrendering to the police.

In 2014 he was recalled to prison from parole after police caught him approaching prostitutes.

Three weeks later, he escaped after he was escorted to a medical appointment at Christchurch Hospital. He was caught nearby soon after, by corrections officers who chased him on foot and in a van.

Community Probation told Judge Gary MacAskill on Friday that Purdy was released on life parole again on January 25, 2018, with a condition that he was to remain at his Dunedin accommodation overnight every night unless he was undertaking a drug rehabilitation programme at Moana House.

On April 30, the Global Positioning Systems Immediate Response team detected that he had cut his monitoring bracelet off his ankle and absconded from Moana House.

He was found and arrested without incident on Christchurch’s Main North Road on May 17, after about two weeks on the run.

Police told the court that when he was caught, a search of his jersey pocket found a plastic bag containing 3.94g of cannabis. Purdy said he had it for his own use.

He pleaded guilty to the charges of breaching his parole conditions and possession of cannabis.

Judge MacAskill remanded him in custody for sentencing on August 9 – the outcome of the Parole Board hearing to recall him to prison will be known by then.

Defence counsel Natalie Wham said Purdy would not be contesting the recall to prison.

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A drink-driver who slammed into a man walking on the footpath in the central city may be ordered to pay emotional harm reparations for the injuries he caused.

Daniel Clifford Watson, a 27-year-old glazier from Belfast, pleaded guilty at the Christchurch District Court to charges of dangerous driving and drink-driving – he was more than four times the 250mcg of alcohol per litre breath-limit.

Judge Gary MacAskill remanded him on bail for sentencing on August 22, and ordered a pre-sentence report to consider his suitability for home or community detention.

He also sent the case for a possible restorative justice meeting between Watson and the man he injured, and ordered a reparation report on the victim’s financial losses and emotion harm, and Watson’s ability to pay for them.

Police said the accident happened at 11.26pm on May 5, when Watson was driving on Durham Street at about 84km an hour in a 30km an hour area.

He failed to take the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Gloucester Street because he was going so fast and drove onto the footpath, hitting the victim from behind.

The pedestrian received two broken legs, a broken pelvis, and a broken left arm.

A police breath test showed that Watson had a level of 1015 mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.

When interviewed, he said he had hit someone “on the road”.

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A Canterbury businessmen has been granted name suppression until trial on a charge of careless driving causing the death of a motorcyclist killed in a Northern Motorway crash in December.

The man’s company, where he holds a senior position, supported his application for suppression before Judge John Strettell in the Christchurch District Court today.

The company had its own lawyer in court to argue that it would suffer hardship if his name was published when he held a leadership role.

Judge Strettell considered submissions from defence counsel Andrew McCormick, for the driver, and from his employer, and from the NZME reporter in court. The police did not oppose name suppression being granted.

The company said identifying the man would also identify his employer.

The man appeared before a Community Magistrate last week and pleaded not guilty to the careless driving causing death charge, and the case was remanded to a case review hearing on July 9.

Judge Strettell ruled that the suppression issue did not need to be considered at the case review and would continue to apply until the trial.

The accident happened on the motorway’s Tram Road on-ramp at 3.30pm on December 9, when a motorcyclist and a vehicle towing a trailer, driven by the defendant, collided.

The motorcyclist, Rangiora barman Ben Caldicott-Elwell, 34, died after being rushed to hospital in a serious condition.

The motorcyclist’s family opposed the granting of suppression, saying that the name of the dead man had been reported in coverage of the crash at the time and they did not have the opportunity to grieve privately before it was publicised. They said they saw no reason why the defendant should be treated in a different way.

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Police are investigating whether two women arrested in Sumner are linked to a spate of burglaries in which rental properties were stripped bare.

The women were remanded in custody when they appeared before Community Magistrate Leigh Langridge in the Christchurch District Court today.

At present they face one burglary charge each, but the police are investigating six earlier burglaries made through bookings at popular accommodation websites at the end of May.

Samadhi Kalita Lucas, 30, of Woolston, and Terangimarie A-Te-Arohuni Jury, 35, of Burnside, were remanded without plea to appear again by video-link from the Christchurch Women’s Prison on June 29.

At present they are charged with just one burglary, of a home in Head Street, Sumner, overnight on Tuesday.

Jury is also charged with assaulting a man to get away after the burglary.

Police said last week that burglars had used stolen credit cards to book accommodation at homes throughout Christchurch before stripping them bare. The bookings were made through popular accommodation websites.

They said offenders had taken everything from the homes, including lounge suites, bedding, and whiteware.

They urged people to be careful about checking the identity of renters.

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A 57-year-old man who says he felt “stonewalled and powerless” in his dealings with the Earthquake Commission has written out cheques totalling $14,394 for paintstripper damage to EQC cars.

Russell Taylor Carr wrote out two cheques in the Christchurch District Court where he was sentenced today – one to cover EQC losses, and another for its own insurer, Vero.

“I just feel railroaded everywhere,” he said to Judge Stephen O’Driscoll as the sentencing ended with a reparation order and 150 hours of community work.

Carr still denies the offending after being found guilty of intentional damage at a judge-alone trial, and he plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

He also told the hearing that he has made a claim with Vero to pay for the damage which he is having to pay for at present. He said Vero had accepted the claim “subject to my passing my medical conditions on to them”.

Defence counsel Nikita Mitskevitch said Carr was a retired contractor who was still asked out of retirement to do work because he was well regarded. He was a pillar of the community who had no previous convictions. He helped the “community fridge” in New Brighton with vegetables from his own garden.

Carr had felt stonewalled and powerless in his dealings with EQC. “His health had taken a turn for the worse mentally, and he was struggling physically as well. It does not pardon his offending a bit, but it does give it some context.”

Carr’s sentencing was delayed last month so that he could come up with a reparation offer. Judge O’Driscoll said at the time that he was not impressed with Carr’s attitude. Imprisonment had been “on the cards” at that stage, particularly if no reparation was paid.

The judge delayed the sentencing to today and then made Carr fill out the reparation cheques as he stood in the dock and hand them to his lawyer, who undertook to pay them to the court immediately.

He said that Carr had not been happy with his dealings with EQC and had a grievance.

“I understand from what I have been told that you have felt ignored and powerless over your involvement with EQC.”

That had caused Carr to become overwhelmed and frustrated but it did not justify his actions in committing a criminal act by damaging property.

The judge found in a reserved decision after the trial that Carr had driven his van along Barry Hogan Drive, Addington, on July 1, 2016, and sprayed a liquid in the direction of several EQC cars. The liquid was apparently paintstripper.

At the end of the sentencing, Judge O’Driscoll told him: “Get on with your life. Put this behind you, and hopefully these matters between you and EQC will be finalised in an amicable way.”

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A 26-year-old Christchurch man has been charged with manslaughter over a fatal crash in Russley on January 2.

Richard Robert Tranter, a garage attendant from Linwood, faced three new charges relating to the crash when he appeared by video-link at the Christchurch District Court today.

Tranter was already in custody facing other charges when the crash charges were laid.

Judge David Saunders remanded him in custody to appear in the High Court on June 29.

He declined to hear a bail application today, saying it would be best for the High Court to consider it, if a suitable address for electronically monitored bail became available.

Jack Keith Munro, 23, of Christchurch received fatal injuries in the crash at 10.35pm on June 2. He died in hospital the next day.

It was reported that the crash at the corner of Russley Road and Bentley Street involved two cars and a parked car. One other person was injured.

Today, Tranter faced a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Munro, and driving with 112mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood. The legal limit for driving is 50mg, and levels over 80mg lead to prosecution in court.

He is also charged that being the driver of a BMW car he omitted to take reasonable care to avoid danger and committed manslaughter by causing the death of Mr Munro.

Manslaughter charges must be sent to the High Court.

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A 21-year-old who says he streaked at last week’s rugby league match in Christchurch to win a trip, will have to pay $1130 in fines and costs.

Royce Wilbur Edwards, of Rolleston, today admitted the charge of behaving in a disorderly manner at the NRL match AMI Stadium on June 9, while the Warriors were playing Manley.

He appeared before Justice of the Peace and again apologised for the behaviour that disrupted the play while he ran naked and evaded security staff at the ground.

The police said the incident happened at 6.30pm when about 17,000 spectators were at the ground, including many families with young children.

They said he was visible to everyone as he took all his clothes off and ran onto the field naked, and stopped the match.

Edwards told the police he was trying to win a trip.

At court today, he said he “hadn’t had much (alcohol) really” at the time of his streak.

The JPs fined him $1000 – the maximum penalty – and ordered him to pay court costs of $130.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

A 29-year-old man serving a life term for a 2009 Christchurch murder has now admitted two more violent incidents in prison.

Adam Robert Gemptonwas jailed for life with a non-parole term of 10 years after a trial in 2010 for the fatal stabbing of Timothy Constable in a brawl outside a Bishopdale address.

He is now locked up in the maximum security prison at Paremoremo in Auckland after two incidents at Christchurch Men’s Prison.

He appeared by video-link at the Christchurch District Court today to enter a guilty plea to a charge of assault with intent to injure over a January 16 gang assault in an exercise yard.

He also admitted a charge of injuring a man with reckless disregard for safety after a stabbing in jail, 13 days after the previous incident.

Four gang members have already pleaded guilty to charges relating to the first incident and Gempton will join them for sentencing in Christchurch on June 28. He will be sentenced for the stabbing at the same time.

The victim in the first assault was punched, kneed, and kicked for 25 seconds until he collapsed to the ground. He refused medical treatment and declined to lay a complaint about the assault, but it had all been caught on prison surveillance camera so the charges went ahead anyway.

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The High Court has taken over a case involving alleged importation of $50 million of methamphetamine from Mexico.

All three accused are now remanded to a pre-trial call-over in the High Court on July 13, after denying the charges. Two of the men were granted bail in the Christchurch District Court in February, but the third is being held in custody on remand at the Hawkes Bay Regional Prison.

Since their last appearance, the High Court has stepped in and will be the venue for the trial.

Michael Harrison Cooper, 31, and Johnathan James Seal, 25, were arrested in November as part of the police and customs department’s Operation Drugs investigation which allegedly found 49kg of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $50 millionhidden in a shipment of safety lights from Mexico.

They have denied charges of possession of methamphetamine for supply and importing the class A drug.

The third man was arrested in the North Island last year on the importation charge. He has name suppression which was continued today at the request of defence counsel Paul Johnson so that he could tell his extended family in the Pacific islands about his arrest.

The man appeared before Judge Tom Gilbert by video-link from Hawkes Bay.

He was remanded in custody for another appearance in the High Court by video-link.

Judge Gilbert granted the suppression but said it was not a reason for the order to be continued at the next appearance and it would lapse unless the High Court extended it.

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A woman was injured when she picked up an elderly poodle while it was being savaged to death by two pig dogs at Leithfield, North Canterbury.

The woman’s clear courage was described in the Christchurch District Court when the owner of the pig dogs pleaded guilty to two charges before Judge David Saunders.

Max the 15-year-old poodle was rushed to a vet but died on the way, and the two pig dogs that attacked have now been destroyed as well.

They were owned by Erin Kate Graham, of Leithfield, who has admitted charges of owning dogs which attacked the woman and the poodle in the terrifying incident on October 24.

Counsel for the Hurunui District Council, Shaun Brookes, said the dogs involved were a labrador-greyhound-mastiff cross named Captain, which was unregistered, a labrador-greyhound-boxer cross named Kahu, and a greyhound cross named Ness. All are pig-hunting dogs.

Graham let four dogs out of their dog box about 7.45am and went inside the house to attend for her infant daughter. There was no fencing on the property and the dogs went out onto Terrace Road, while not under any control.

Three of the dogs went up to a woman who was walking a friend’s poodle, Max, who was on a lead. Max’s owner was overseas at the time.

They surrounded the woman and Max and Captain and Kahu attacked the poodle, biting him and pulling him between them.

The woman lifted Max from the ground and Captain and Kahu jumped on her, causing minor injuries before members of the public – including Graham – arrived to help her and Max.

Max received multiple serious wounds, including a large tear to the left abdomen exposing the muscles, bites and tears to the lumbar muscles, bites and a skin tear to the throat, broken rips, and chest trauma.

The woman received scratches to her hands, and abrasion on her buttocks, and a strained neck.

Mr Brookes told the court the cost of the attack: medical treatment and physiotherapy cost $103, plus $339 for damage to her clothing and shoes, $846 to replace her broken glasses, veterinary bills of $47.50, and $185 to have Max cremated. The owner bought a new dog for $350.

Defence counsel Shannon-Leigh Litt said Graham was willing to meet the woman and Max’s owner at a restorative justice meeting but they had declined.

Judge Saunders remanded Graham for sentencing on September 21. He said her contribution towards reparations for the damage caused would be taken into account in her sentence.

The Hurunui District Council said she had been spoken to in May and June last year about not having her dogs under control.

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A Christchurch professional man has been given 10 days to tell his clients that he has admitted tax offences totalling $402,000 before his name suppression lapses.

The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to seven representative charges on the day his judge-alone trial was due to start in the Christchurch District Court on 152 offences under the Tax Administration Act.

The trial before Judge Stephen O’Driscoll did not get started because agreement was reached in discussions in chambers at 10am.

The court reconvened four hours later when Inland Revenue withdrew the 152 charges and replaced them with the seven representative charges relating to non-payment of tax deductions. The man then pleaded guilty.

Judge O’Driscoll remanded him on continued bail to September 14 for sentencing. He asked for a pre-sentence report to assess his suitability for a home or community detention sentence.

The man has had interim suppression as the case went to trial, and defence counsel Jonathan Eaton QC asked for the order to be continued today for another 10 days, to allow the man to contact clients about his convictions. Some of them are out of New Zealand.

Mr Eaton said if any significant issues arose during that period it would be up to the defence to initiate further action – an appeal to the High Court for the suppression to be continued. Otherwise, it is due to lapse at noon on June 28.

Inland Revenue Department Senior prosecutor Paul Saunders said the charges related to seven companies which had gone into liquidation. The man was a director and joint shareholder of each of the companies, along with another person, either in his own name or through a family trust.

The companies ran businesses around Christchurch between December 2010 and June 2014.

Each of the companies was required to account to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for tax deductions made from employees’ wages and for other deductions. These included PAYE, Kiwisaver employee and employer contributions, child support deductions, student loan deductions, and superannuation contributions.

Mr Saunders said the total amount of the deductions that were not paid to the commissioner over the three-year seven-month period was $402,441.

The man was the person responsible for filing the PAYE returns and had the ability to make the payments. He said in a telephone conversation with a tax department officer that he was fully aware of his obligations. He said he had previous experience as an employer and was fully confident in his obligations as an employer.

He later told the department that “things had got out of hand since the Christchurch earthquake”.

The man has been a director of 34 companies.

He pleaded guilty to charges referring to each of the seven companies now in liquidation, admitting that he aided and abetted the companies to apply tax deductions for purposes other than payments to the tax deparment.

Mr Saunders said the man had been previously convicted of four offences of failing to file financial statements under the Financial Reporting Act, and was fined $35,000. The Ministry of Justice says it does not have a criminal history for him, but the tax department says it holds the sentencing notes for the prosecution.

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Police estimate a car crashed near Burnham at about 200km an hour, killing passenger Jaimey Leigh Fellows when she was thrown out as it did a barrel-roll.

Thirty-two-year-old Miss Fellows was wearing her seatbelt but it snapped in the crash after midnight on October 21.

She died of high impact injuries, and the driver, Craig Richard Bennett of Dunsandel today admitted causing her death through his dangerous driving.

Bennett, 35, is still recovering from the effects of the crash himself. He pleaded guilty at the Christchurch District Court and was remanded on bail for sentencing on August 29.

After the crash, his blood was tested at the hospital and showed a positive result for THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, police said. However, he faces no charge related to the drug.

Judge Barbara Morris asked for a pre-sentence report which will consider Bennett’s suitability for a home detention sentence, and referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting with Miss Fellows’ family.

She also banned him from driving as part of his bail conditions, but said that could be reviewed ahead of sentencing if he obtained work that needed him to drive.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Scott said Miss Fellows was sitting in the passenger seat with her seat belt fastened as the car driven by Bennett travelled south from Rolleston on the Main South Road.

It accelerated heavily in an 80km an hour area and later overtook a small truck on double-yellow no-passing lines.

It continued south for another 6.8km but at the end of the passing lane near Burnham, Bennett lost control when the car was travelling at a speed police calculated at 200 to 204km an hour.

He could not recover from the loss of control, and the car crossed the centre line, collided with a fence post against the passenger door and then “barrel-rolled”.

It came to rest 200m from where Bennett lost control. Sergeant Scott said Miss Fellows’ seat belt snapped and she was thrown from the vehicle during the roll, receiving fatal high impact injuries.

Bennett told police after the crash: “I was the driver of the vehicle, but I have limited recollection of the events.”

Defence counsel Andrew McCormick said Bennett wished to meet the victim’s family at a restorative justice conference, if they were willing.

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An Avonhead man has been remanded on cannabis charges after police raided a Staveley Street property this week and allegedly found a $200,000 growing operation.

Jared John Colwell, a 53-year-old chef, was remanded by a registrar and did not need to appear in court before a judge at the Christchurch District Court.

He has entered no pleas to charges of cultivating cannabis and possession of cannabis for sale.

The registrar remanded Colwell on bail to appear again on July 12.

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The Crown wants gang members convicted of organised criminal group charges to forfeit $22,352 cash and their Rebels MC patched vests.

Prosecutor Claire Boshier pressed for the forfeitures as three of the group members were sentenced by Judge Tom Gilbert in the Christchurch District Court today.

But when defence counsel objected to the forfeiture orders, that issue had to be set down for half a day of legal argument on a date still to be set.

Judge Gilbert said $14,000 was found in the wheel well of a car where the driver said he had no knowledge of it. Another person might claim the cash was legitimately theirs, said the judge, “but it would take a fair bit of convincing”.

More money was found in a house the police searched. It was wrapped in a balaclava.

Miss Boshier ask for an order for drugs, firearms, ammunition and the gang vests – their colours – to be destroyed, but the judge said he knew of no jurisdiction that allowed him to order destruction of the clothing.

Miss Boshier said the law allowed forfeiture of any articles in respect of which the offence was committed. In this case, the drug dealing was committed for the profit and benefit of the gang.

The Crown is already holding the $22,352 cash, which was seized as an exhibit. Defence counsel said that they believed the clothing items should be returned.

The sentencing went ahead for three men, but two others are being dealt with separately.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett asked for leave to be granted for Baden Kenneth Clunie, 25,

to apply for home detention during his jail sentence on charges of being a member of an organised criminal group, and offering to supply methamphetamine and cannabis.

Judge Gilbert noted he was assessed as a high risk of reoffending, and had previous convictions for violence, drugs, and non-compliance with sentences. He jailed him for two years three months.

Mark Allan Powhiro, a 33-year-old bricklayer, of Avondale, said in a letter to the judge that he was now a new father and wanted to move on with his life, said defence counsel Anselm Williams.

Judge Gilbert said Powhiro had separately pleaded guilty to charges of breaching a community work sentence, breach of supervision, failing to answer his bail, receiving a stolen trailer, and driving while disqualified. He had five previous convictions for driving while disqualified.

The judge jailed him for two years eight months and disqualified him driving for a year.

Defence counsel Miranda Rout said Apirana Ropata Ngata, 24, had received a positive pre-sentence report and was suitable for a home detention sentence. The offending was seen as out of character and he had insight into the effects of his drug use – he now “maintained a healthy lifestyle”.

Judge Gilbert said Ngata, who admitted the criminal group charge, was in different circumstances to the others. He had referred himself to hospital twice to try to break his meth habit. He imposed nine months’ home detention with six months of post-detention conditions.

Ngata indicated he had no knowledge of the cash found in a car he was driving, and he did not wish to take part in the argument about any forfeiture of any items.

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