James Duff, left, and Mark Glassie are appealing the lengths of their prison sentences. Photos / Andrew Warner
James Duff, left, and Mark Glassie are appealing the lengths of their prison sentences. Photos / Andrew Warner
Two Rebels gang leaders jailed for running a Bay of Plenty-based drug dealing ring that was said to have used "Mafia-like tactics" have argued their prison terms are too long.
James Patrick Duff, who was jailed for 15 years, and Mark Glassie, jailed for seven years, yesterday took their argumentsto the Court of Appeal in Auckland before Justices Forrest Miller, Timothy Brewer and Simon Moore.
James Duff has appealed his 15-year jail term. Photo / Andrew Warner
Duff was the kingpin of a drug syndicate and Glassie his second in command.
Duff was said to have "fried the town" where he lived, while Glassie led a double life by ordering "'Mafia-like" tactics for the gang while also working as a youth worker for an Oranga Tamariki-linked agency, courts heard previously.
Their offending involved mainly methamphetamine dealing that was centred in the Bay of Plenty but was starting to spread in the North Island when police busted the operation in October 2019. Where the men lived cannot be reported for legal reasons.
Both were sentenced in the Rotorua District Court by Judge Greg Hollister-Jones earlier this year.
Patrick Duff caught on surveillance cameras. Photo / Supplied
Duff was arrested after a six-month surveillance operation, which included catching him burying large quantities of money and drugs alongside country roads.
He went on to plead guilty to 31 charges relating to dealing about 3kg of methamphetamine, as well as LSD, ecstasy and cannabis, and to charges of participating in an organised group, firearms charges and offences of trying to interfere with justice.
Duff's lawyer, Scott Mccolgan, said his client's end sentence was too high because Judge Hollister-Jones' starting point of 22 years was too high.
Mccolgan said he was not trying to minimise Duff's offending but he reiterated the drug dealing was mainly in the Bay of Plenty, did not have international links and was not sophisticated.
"The manner in which the judge went about calculating the starting points and put them together inflated the started point," Mccolgan told the justices.
Mark Glassie has appealed his seven-year jail term. Photo / Andrew Warner
Glassie was jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to 13 charges. These were participating in an organised criminal group, three for supplying methamphetamine, one for offering to supply methamphetamine, one for possession of cannabis for supply, four for charges relating to class B drugs and two for crimes against the justice system.
His lawyer, Marie Taylor-Cyphers, said yesterday the way Judge Hollister-Jones calculated her client's sentence meant Glassie too ended up with a longer sentence.
She took the justices through legal points including uplifts, parity and totality.
She said the lead offending was supplying methamphetamine and, in his case, involved 10g. She said the judge gave a starting point of three years and lifted it by two-and-a-half years, which she said was significant being nearly double.
"There is not a basis in law or in fact for his honour to do that ... I wouldn't go as far to say as it's never permissible but in my submission, it is not warranted here."
Taylor-Cyphers said there were further uplifts for the other offences which took the judge to a sentence almost triple the starting point.
Court documents revealed Glassie involved youths in his drug dealing and they were taught how to destroy evidence should the police do a bust at his house.
Judge Hollister-Jones said at sentencing earlier this year Glassie was in charge of "serious examples" of "Mafia-like" tactics within the gang.
These included leading a "manhunt" throughout the North Island for a dealer who took $125,000 worth of methamphetamine without paying. There were instructions to give him a "boot ride" if caught and Glassie told his wife on the phone if he caught the man he would kill him.
Glassie was involved in getting one of his female street-level dealers to concoct a story of theft to police as a way of trying to flush out the drug thief.
He was also involved in organising a prospect to "put his hand" up for drug offending to help other gang members escape punishment.
James Duff and Mark Glassie were leaders of the Rebels gang. Photo / Supplied
Oranga Tamariki told the Rotorua Daily Post earlier this year in a statement it was not aware Glassie was a gang member as vetting processes were dealt with on a local level by contracted agencies. However, it said it has since tightened its protocols.
The name of the social services agency that employed Glassie is suppressed.
