Court of Appeal quashes minimum prison term for meth cook

Elijah Rogers was one of several cooks who manufactured meth in this house at Waiotira. Photo / NZME

One of the cooks involved in manufacturing the country's largest amount of "P" will no longer have to serve his 19-year prison sentence before being eligible for parole.

Elijah Rogers managed to persuade the Court of Appeal that a minimum period of imprisonment limited his ability to take part in rehabilitative programmes - particularly those only available to prisoners who had passed their parole eligibility date.

Rogers was one of several cooks involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine, under the direction of patched Head Hunters' gang member Brownie Harding, at a house in Taipuha Rd near Waiotira in 2014.

In 2016, Rogers was sentenced on the basis he was involved in the production of at least 7kg of high quality (73 per cent pure) meth over six distinct manufactures between September and December 2014.

At least 9kg of meth, with a street value of between $3.2 million and $4.5m, was cooked over 10 weeks.

Harding was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Rogers explained to the Court of Appeal, the delay in pursuing his appeal against a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) was he lacked the dignity and confidence as he was working towards kicking his meth habit when he was sentenced.

He only became aware he could appeal individual aspects of his sentence when talking to a group of visitors to the prison in March last year.

The Court of Appeal judges said Rogers had taken every rehabilitative opportunity offered to him while in prison and was a mentor to other male prisoners.

As at the date of his sentencing in 2016, the judges said the imposition of an MPI for a cook in a significant and large-scale methamphetamine operation would not have been unusual.

However, since then they said a full Court of Appeal bench has held a reasoned analysis that was required in regard to the imposition of an MPI and its length.

The court was of the view there were unique features of Rogers' case, including his personal circumstances, which meant an MPI longer than the one-third statutory period was not required.

The features were his relatively young age of 25 when he was drawn into the offending. He had a limited criminal history, comprising of four convictions for low level offending for which he was either fined or sentenced to community work and had not served time in prison.

Rogers' deep remorse was substantiated by completing two programmes to address problem gambling while on remand and a desire to undergo other initiatives designed to assist with drug addiction.

"That deep remorse was underscored by Mr Rogers' renunciation of his membership of the Head Hunters gang — a significant and no doubt difficult step as he began a lengthy period of imprisonment.

"These actions showed Mr Rogers was taking responsibility for the drivers that led him into offending and had already begun to address them."