He lived in Auckland with his partner and was part of the Mongols for the social aspect, Smith said.
“You’ve seen him in photographs in social circumstances.
“He had a joint birthday party with Mr Thacker. It’s quite clear that what he got from this club was a social side of things.”
Smith said a witness had suggested that his client was the “Auckland connection” for the gang.
“I suggest that he inflates his role.
“He was clearly friends with people who lived in the Bay of Plenty.
“[Witness] talked about him being responsible for buying the cipher phones – sometimes 10 at a time – and provided some of the club’s gear as well.
“But when [witness] was asked what [accused’s] role was in Auckland, [witness] said ‘no, I don’t specifically know. I know he’s a patched member but that’s about it’.”
Smith said there was “nothing implicit” about the witness that made him trustworthy and he “had a reason to lie”.
“He’s needed to lie because it’s benefited him. He was in custody and wanted to get out on bail.”
He was released after engaging with police and later granted immunity and a lighter sentence for his cooperation.
“He’s just a stranger but the things that you know about him should make you trust him less, I suggest.”
Smith said a reason the trial had been so long was the large number of defendants, a “huge” number of charges, a significant number of which had been dropped partway through.
South Island Mongols gang president Jason Ross’ counsel, Thomas Harre, urged the jury to make sure that what the key witness said, was enough to get them to that “high standard of beyond reasonable doubt”.
“In this case, there’s just too much uncertainty,” he said.
The key witness’ evidence was “virtually nothing, except uncorroborated exaggerations in respect of Mr Ross”, and couldn’t be relied upon, Harre said.
“[He was] a man with a made coke habit for a bit there … [had] a house full of guns on him and homemade bombs … and a man who sold police the ultimate jail free card.”
He also disputed the witness’ trip to the South Island with his family was to drop off kilograms of drugs, rather, it was a family holiday and to “catch up with the bros in quake city”, as intercepted phone calls revealed - calls the witness didn’t realise police were listening to.
Harre agreed the witness did take methamphetamine south – but only about 2 ounces, nothing like the kilograms the witness had suggested.
Tony Rickard-Simms, acting for Mathew Ramsden, admitted his client had a meth addiction, but he was no specialist “washer” of meth as the witness had claimed.
“He denies moving it or being involved with it in any other way.
“Where’s the evidence of these skills?” he asked.
“During all of the searches of all these addresses, no chemicals were located. Where was he doing this meth cleaning?
“Where did the stuff come from for him to clean? There was no meth on him [when arrested].”
He warned the jury not to make too many assumptions from the Crown’s intercepted communications as they were only getting a “small snippet”.
“You’re being asked to determine where the truth lies and that can be very difficult.
“You have to have evidence to support your verdict. I’m submitting to you that the Crown has not done enough.”
Defence counsel will continue with their closing submissions tomorrow.
