Jurors in the High Court at Auckland found Michael Filoa guilty of murder last month. Photo / Dean Purcell
An Auckland drug dealer convicted of murdering a senior Mongrel Mob member - allegedly shooting him in the back as he ran away from a methamphetamine sale that had gone bad - has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Michael Filoa, who was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Auckland last month, must serve at least 10-and-a-half years of the life sentence before he is eligible to apply for parole, Justice Layne Harvey also decided today.
The judge had been asked by Filoa's lawyers to disregard the normally mandated life term, instead finding such a sentence to be "manifestly unjust" due to the circumstances of the shooting. He declined to do so.
Clifford Umuhuri, who as sergeant-at-arms was the third highest ranking member of the Mongrel Mob's Bay of Plenty chapter, was found dead on a residential Grafton street near Auckland Hospital on the morning of June 1, 2020.
The 47-year-old had been shot a short time earlier in another quiet residential neighbourhood roughly 8km away and had bled to death while arguing with his mates about not wanting to be taken to hospital.
He had been in Auckland on what defence lawyers equated to a "business trip" for the Bay of Plenty Mongrel Mob - spending thousands of dollars on a meth-buying spree. The nation was in its first Covid-19 lockdown and supply-chain issues had made the drug scarce and more expensive, said a witness who described Umuhuri in a text as Bay of Plenty's largest dealer.
The scarcity was worse in the regions.
Justice Harvey acknowledged today that the victim's "lifestyle choices may appear unorthodox". But grief over his death is still being processed two years on, the judge said, noting that many of Umuhuri's family members sat through the trial and were in court today for the sentencing.
"Mr Umuhuri was a loved and respected figure within his immediate whānau," he said.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey said Filoa, 32, brought fake methamphetamine and a loaded, cut-down .22 semi-automatic rifle to the early morning drug deal. Jurors acquitted Filoa of aggravated robbery, but that doesn't mean he didn't still intend to scam Umuhuri with fake drugs, Dickey suggested to the judge today.
"Mr Umuhuri was stuck in a car with nowhere to go when Mr Filoa [first] shot him," Dickey said, adding of the second shot to the victim's buttocks: "It's very clear Mr Umuhuri is trying to get away."
He asked for a minimum period of imprisonment of 11 years, citing the brutality of the shooting and Umuhuri's vulnerability at the time he was shot. He also pointed to Filoa's "troubling" criminal history, including a 2018 firearms conviction and aggravated robberies dating back more than a decade.
"He does not have previous good character," Dickey said. "Neither does he show any genuine remorse. None."
While testifying at his trial, Filoa admitted having fired the shots that killed Umuhuri that morning. But he acted out of self-defence, he contended, telling jurors that he was short changed by thousands of dollars during the drug deal then attacked when he called Umuhuri out on it.
Jurors took three days to find him guilty of murder and acquit him of robbery. Co-defendant Aaron Davis, who was the driver that night, was acquitted of all charges.
During today's hearing, defence lawyer David Niven noted that the only testimony that the drugs Filoa was selling were fake came from a methamphetamine-using witness who admitted to being intoxicated that morning and who lashed out - flinging profanity-laden insults at lawyers and fellow witnesses - when she was forced to testify.
His client had real methamphetamine for sale and no scheme in mind, Niven contended today, repeating some of the arguments he made to the jury.
"He took a gun without any intention of a confrontation," Niven said. "He was assaulted in the course of the transaction...
"There was a level of threat perceived by him. This isn't circumstances where he's had plenty of time to reflect [before opening fire]."
If the judge agreed the murder was the result of provocation or "excessive self-defence", there would be grounds to find a mandatory life sentence manifestly unjust, he argued.
If the judge did impose a life sentence, Niven asked for a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years, which would be the lowest allowed under the law.
Prosecutors, however, disagreed that a sentence other than life was an option.
Avoiding such a sentence would require "exceptional circumstance", and that doesn't match the facts of this case, Dickey said.
Filoa might have been attacked in the car after trying to cheat Umuhuri on the deal, but there's no evidence Umuhuri had a gun or that Filoa was seriously injured as a result, the prosecutor contended.
"It was always nonsense to suggest it was okay to shoot Mr Umuhuri twice - once in the car, once as he was running away - because he resisted being ripped off," Dickey said.