Dealer has rehabilitative prospects

Whakatāne man Peter Ford has been sentenced to home detention for cannabis offending considered to be at the lower end of the commercial scale.

Ford, 31, received the seven-month sentence in Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday.

His convictions included possession of cannabis for the purpose of supply, offering to sell cannabis, driving while suspended, breaching community work and breaching bail.

Judge Louis Bidois said Ford’s efforts to sell cannabis spanned an 11-month period.

He was told by lawyer Jonathan Kay that the defendant had engaged positively with both his whānau and his culture and had abstained from drug use since the offending.

Judge Bidois said police executed a search warrant last September and found Ford in possession of 31 grams of cannabis and a significant amount of "cabbage” - about 5 kilograms of leaf material.

The judge noted the cannabis was not of high quality.

Ford offered to sell unknown amounts for $250 and was in possession of five $20 deal bags.

The court heard he had a history of drug abuse. He has a stable relationship, is paying off his fines and has completed his outstanding community work.

Judge Bidois set a two-year prison sentence start point and discounted it by 40 percent for mitigating factors.

The sentence was then converted to seven months’ imprisonment with six months of post detention conditions.

Ford must forfeit $440 found during the search warrant and will be disqualified from driving for a year.

Two-week remand

Joseph Ngaheu has been remanded in custody for a fortnight for a combination bail application and case review hearing.

Ngaheu has been charged with injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of assault with intent to injure, two counts of threatening to kill and one of breaching an extended supervision order.

Deliberate breach of conditions

Raymond Belsey is back in prison after deliberately breaching his release conditions.

The court heard that Belsey was released from prison to the streets after serving a lengthy sentence, and he deliberately breached his release conditions by travelling to Christchurch, in efforts to get arrested.

He was sentenced to two months’ prison.

His existing release conditions, which expire in 2026, remain in place.

Bail granted

Harley Kingi has been granted bail despite opposition from police.

She has denied charges of shoplifting, driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police, giving false details to police, resisting police, possession of methamphetamine and possession of utensils for methamphetamine.

Kingi was remanded to the end of October for a case review hearing.

Remand without plea

Redmond Huirua has been remanded in custody for two weeks on charges of burglary and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He appeared in court this week by audio-visual link.

Lawyer Steve Franklin said he had not been able to receive instructions from his client because he was told Huirua was in a different prison than he was in.

The lawyer had only been able to have a brief conversation in the back of an ambulance which he said was insufficient to take instructions about pleas.

Huirua was remanded without plea to October 1.

No trial date available

There was insufficient time in the court calendar to schedule a trial for Morris Mitchell, who has denied three charges.

Police allege he wilfully set fire to property or endangered life by fire, committed an aggravated assault and injured with intent to injure.

His attendance at court was excused this week.

Mitchell was remanded to a nominal date in November for court staff to attempt again to schedule the one-and-a-half-day judge-alone trial.

Another case review hearing

Fairmond Popata-Edwardson's attendance was excused this week while he is at a rehabilitative programme in Auckland.

Popata-Edwardson was due for a case review hearing on charges of prohibited display of gang insignia and two counts of resisting police. He is yet to plead on a newer charge of breaching court bail.

No case management memorandum had been filed ahead of this week’s hearing, and it was suggested that another case review hearing might be beneficial.

Popata-Edwardson was remanded to November for a case review hearing. His attendance was excused, but his lawyer may request his attendance.

Remand for bail application

Waihau Bay man Jesse Waenga has been remanded in custody for a week to make a bail application.

Waenga, 49, faces charges of shoplifting, unlawfully taking a pink and white bicycle, being unlawfully in an enclosed yard, and two counts of burglary.

His lawyer had only been assigned the day prior to this week’s court appearance and as such they had not been able to take instructions from him.

Trial date needed

Jayden Brown has been remanded to a nominal date in November for court staff to attempt to schedule a trial.

Brown has denied assault on a person in a family relationship, threatening to kill, driving dangerously and two counts of contravening a protection order.

He has elected trial by judge alone. His attendance was excused this week and at his next appearance.

Guilty plea to amended charge

Corey Beatty must complete 140 hours of community work after being sentenced for vehicle-related offending this week.

He pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle causing sustained loss of traction, failing in his obligations regarding a search warrant, and an amended charge of unlawful interference with a motor vehicle, which was originally laid as unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.

Beatty spent four days in custody on remand.

In addition to the community work, he was disqualified from driving for six months.

Prison term for intimidation

Rick Campbell has been urged to change his ways after being sentenced to four months’ imprisonment for contravening a protection order and an amended charge of intimidation.

“It’s getting too repetitive,” he said to Judge Bidois after receiving the sentence, in a nod to his motivation to change.

Lawyer Robert Savage said Campbell waived his right to a pre-sentence report, and he accepted prior to sentencing that a short term of imprisonment was a likely outcome.

Mr Savage said the defendant had nowhere to go for electronically monitored bail or sentence, with all his family in the South Island, and supervision sentences hadn’t worked previously.

Judge Bidois said Campbell had previously been imprisoned for threatening to kill, and he had a “habit of his mouth getting away on him.”

He noted the defendant was now diagnosed with ADHD and is on the correct medication.

Existing sentences of community work and supervision were cancelled.

Court tied on outcome for mentally ill defendant

A young man who is alleged to have broken into a family member’s shed to have a sleep – but is not mentally well enough to give his lawyer instructions on how to plead – has been remanded in custody for another two weeks as the court considers how best to proceed.

The 22-year-old has been in custody since the beginning of the month on charges of behaving threateningly and wilful trespass.

He was remanded to appear in Ōpōtiki District Court in two weeks, giving all involved in the case time to further mull over how to support him once he is back in the community.

Stolen speakers returned

Whakatāne man Te Maunganui Singh-Lagah was sentenced to two months’ prison for stealing two bluetooth speakers from The Warehouse, trespassing in the process.

The UE Wonderboom speakers, together valued at $350, have been returned, so no reparations were sought.

Lawyer Paul Devoy said Singh-Lagah acknowledged he had a lengthy criminal history but sought a community-based sentence.

Judge Bidois said based on the defendant’s history, he had no confidence he would comply with a community-based sentence.

He said the best way for Singh-Lagah to prove he could change his ways was to not offend again once he is released from prison.

Reparation ordered for door

Elijah Morunga must pay $924 reparation for a glass door he smashed the day after being sentenced for similar offending.

He was ordered to come up if called upon for a period of six months, meaning he would be resentenced for this offending if he was before the courts again within that period.

Readmitted to bail

Kawerau man Hohepa Daniels has been readmitted to bail, after being arrested on new charges.

He was remanded to October for a case review hearing on denied charges of assault on a person in a family relationship and threatening to kill.

On the same date, he will be expected to plead to new charges of common assault and threatening behaviour.

Woman fails in bid to avoid conviction

Kauri Talbot has been convicted and fined $800 for twice contravening a protection order.

She applied for a discharge without conviction on the grounds that the conviction would have consequences for her current employment and future job aspirations, which were out of proportion with the gravity of the offending.

The court heard the argument that the offending was contextual in a change of childcare arrangements.

Judge Bidois said Talbot went to the victim’s address on a Sunday night in February and woke him up by knocking on his door.

She tried to enter the house twice despite being told to leave. The victim, an ex-partner, had to restrain her on the ground while the police were called, the judge said.

Two months later, she messaged the same victim to criticise his living arrangements and ability to care for their children. Judge Bidois said she then deleted the messages.

Police opposed the application for discharge without conviction.

Prosecutor Jasmyn Pearson said Talbot had already benefited from being discharged without conviction, and she’d had her chance.

She noted the particular difficulty of male victims to speak up.

A victim impact statement summarised for the court referenced the victim feeling “helpless and small” having to report Talbot’s behaviour to police.

Judge Bidois said the gravity of the offending was medium to high and reduced to moderate when mitigating factors were considered. But he said that was undermined by Talbot’s previous discharge without conviction.

He convicted and fined her. She must also pay $150 in emotional harm reparations in addition to the fines.