Jury members are deliberating the fate of three Northlanders facing serious drug charges that involved the manufacture of 9kg of methamphetamine at a rural house.
Evanda Harding, Kiata Sonny Pene and Casey Rewha are on trial in the High Court at Whangarei for their alleged roles in the drugoperation in Taipuha Rd, Waiotira, between September and December 2014.
Harding is facing three charges of manufacturing meth, two of possession of pseudoephedrine for supply and/or offering to supply, one of possession of meth for supply, and one of participating in an organised criminal group.
He pleaded guilty at the start of his trial on June 27 to two charges of possession of pseudoephedrine for supply and one of possession of meth for supply.
Pene has denied one charge of manufacturing meth and one of participating in an organised criminal group while Rewha is facing one charge of participating in an organised criminal group.
Justice Simon Moore told the jury members during his summing up they neither have to accept nor reject everything witnesses said while giving their evidence.
The jury should approach its task in a cool, calm and rational way while putting feelings of sympathy and prejudice to one side, the judge said.
He said the jury should not read anything from the type of language used in phone and text conversations allegedly involving Harding, Pene and Rewha.
He cautioned jury members not to jump to the illogical and impermissible conclusion that Pene was likely guilty of the charges against him because of his past association with the Head Hunters' gang.
Nor by giving evidence had Pene assumed responsibility for proving the charges against him, the judge said.
On the other hand, Justice Moore said the decision by Harding and Rewha not to call witnesses or to give evidence did not add to the case against them.
A level of unconscious prejudice, he said, might arise in the jury simply because of the volume of evidence tendered by the Crown over the past five weeks.
However, he said the jury must not equate volume of evidence with proof.
Jury members retired to consider their verdicts at 1.30pm yesterday.
