Man on electronic bail had 44 tinnies

A Whangarei man found with 44 cannabis tinnies at his home while on electronic bail for violent offending and with three pre-schoolers in the house has been jailed for a year.

Peramira Mikaera Anania, 22, appeared for sentencing in the High Court at Whangarei after pleading guilty to possessing cannabis for supply after police found 44 cannabis tinnies at his home on February 11.

At the time Anania was on electronic bail awaiting sentencing for injuring with intent to injure and he was subsequently jailed for two years 11 months on that charge.

When police searched his home in February they found 44 cannabis tinnies, $185 in cash, a small quantity of cannabis and there were three children aged under 5 in the property.

Anania earlier pleaded guilty to the charge in the district court, which then declined jurisdiction to sentence him as it would result in a jail term of more than three years so sent the case to the High Court to deal with.

Crown prosecutor Moana Jarman-Taylor said Anania's offending was aggravated by the fact he was on bail at the time.

Defence lawyer Aaron Dooney said Anania was dealing cannabis to provide for his family and this was his first conviction for drug offending.

Justice Rebecca Ellis said the maximum sentence for dealing cannabis was eight years jail, but accepted that Anania was not a large scale commercial dealer.

Justice Ellis said Anania had 23 previous convictions, including for violence, dishonesty and breeching court orders.

The pre-sentence report said he has had drug and alcohol issues since he was nine.

She said Anania was getting treatment for those problems, he wanted to turn his life around and had accepted full responsibility for his drug dealing.

Offending while on bail was an aggravating factor and Justice Ellis said he deserved full credit for his guilty plea.

She sentenced Anania to 21 months' jail for the dealing charge, but said to impose that sentence would take his total end sentence to almost five years' jail, which would be manifestly unjust for his crimes.

Justice Ellis said to meet the totality in sentencing principle she would impose a term of 12 months' jail to be served cumulatively to his existing jail term, meaning a total end sentence of three years and 11 months imprisonment.