Police and ESR staff at the scene of a methamphetamine lab raid on Taipuha Road, south west of Whangarei. Photo / John Stone
Police and ESR staff at the scene of a methamphetamine lab raid on Taipuha Road, south west of Whangarei. Photo / John Stone
A jury has reached guilty verdicts on all but one charge against three Northlanders charged in relation to the manufacture of millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine at a rural house.
After nearly three days of deliberation following a five-week trial, the verdicts were delivered in the High Court atWhangarei at 3.21pm yesterday against Evanda Harding, Kiata Sonny Pene and Casey Rewha.
The jury retired at 1.30pm on Monday after Justice Simon Moore summed up the case.
At least 9kg of meth with a street value of between $3.2 million and $4.5 million was cooked over 10 weeks in a property in Taipuha Rd at Waiotira, between Whangarei and Paparoa, between September and December 2014.
Jurors returned unanimous verdicts of guilty against Evanda Harding on two charges of manufacturing meth and one of participating in an organised criminal group.
There was a hung jury on one charge of manufacturing meth against him.
He pleaded guilty at the start of his trial on June 27 to two charges of possession of pseudoephedrine for supply and one of possession of meth for supply.
Pene was unanimously found guilty of manufacturing meth and by a majority verdict on the charge of participating in an organised criminal group.
The jurors returned a majority verdict of guilty against Rewha on one charge of participating in an organised criminal group.
All have been remanded in custody, except Rewha, for sentencing on September 1.
The supervisor of the drug operation was Brownie Harding and he pleaded guilty in the High Court at Auckland in June to six charges of possession of meth for supply, two of conspiracy to supply meth, one of possession for supply, one of supplying pseudoephedrine, and one of participating in an organised criminal group.
He will be sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei on August 19.
Two meth cooks - Jayden Hura and Anthony Mangu - have already been sentenced to 16 years and eight months and 15 years in jail respectively for their part in the drug operation which police named Operation Easter.
Others sentenced for their roles in the operation included Sharn Stanley Keogh, 27, who acted as a "taxi service" by dropping off people and supplies used in the manufacture of meth. He was jailed for more than eight years.
At the time the bust was the largest amount of cooked up methamphetamine police had ever discovered in the country.
