The offences both men were charged with arose after police executed a search warrant about 6.45am on July 22 last year at a house occupied by Legg in Hikurangi.
Police forced their way in through the back door after no one inside the house opened the door. Both men were jointly charged with being in possession of 147.2 grams of methamphetamine, which Justice Keane said was the largest quantity discovered in Northland at that time.
Police also recovered about $19,000 from a backpack, a .22-calibre pistol and rounds of ammunition, a set of digital scales, and various amounts of methamphetamine and instruments for inhaling the drug. Cameras surveying the driveway, back door, garage, and the area between the house and the main road were found. Police seized a hard drive on which surveillance was recorded.
The Crown said the value of methamphetamine seized depended on the units in which it was to be sold. If sold in ounces, it could fetch between $47,250 and $105,000.
Kingi's lawyer Nick Leader asked Justice Anne Hinton in court this week to allow a discreet reduction in the end sentence to reflect his client's remorse and prospects of rehabilitation.
Quoting from the presentence report, the judge said Kingi had had an unhappy childhood after his parents separated when he was a baby. He had been assessed as a high risk of re-offending and a medium risk of harming others.
Justice Hinton reduced the sentence indication by two months and encouraged Kingi to try every avenue available to rehabilitate himself.
