Aaron Drever appears at Auckland District Court for sentencing. Photo / Michael Craig
Disgraced real estate agent Aaron Drever has failed in his bid to overturn a hefty prison sentence and instead serve his time on home detention.
Drever was jailed in August for two years and two months after he admitted obtaining about $600,000 by deception from Auckland speedway companies and Avondale Bowling Club.
The Herald reported yesterday that while serving his time at Northland Prison, Drever was attacked last month and his face ripped open by a meat hook, exposing his nasal cavity, after an altercation with another inmate in the prison kitchen.
Corrections has now confirmed the assailant was involved in another assault only weeks earlier and should not have been working in the kitchen without “managerial sign off”. The department has launched a review to find out how it happened and prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Drever is now preparing to lay a formal complaint about Corrections’ handling of his safety while behind bars.
The former high-flying agent appealed his sentence last month, arguing the prison sentence was “manifestly excessive” and that his personal circumstances meant he had diminished moral culpability for his offending.
He also claimed the judge failed to provide an adequate discount for his previous good behaviour before ripping off the bowling club and speedway companies, and that he should have been sentenced to home detention rather than serving jail time.
The Crown opposed the appeal, arguing that Drever had a “blighted” professional record and that he had used the skills he learned as an agent to exploit those who trusted him for personal gain.
A High Court decision released today by Justice Paul Davison found the trial judge had not erred when jailing Drever or by failing to allow for Drever’s previous good character.
“It is clear from the decision of the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal that the appellant has an extensive history of professional misconduct in his role as a licensed real estate agent.”
Justice Davison noted Drever had been struck off for repeated misconduct.
“It is clear that the appellant cannot be described as being a person of good character. He was shown to be unreliable, inaccurate and reckless in his dealings with members of the public in relation to the selling of real estate.”
Drever, once one of the country’s most successful and high-profile agents, was struck off in 2016 after notching up a record 12 adverse disciplinary findings, including professional misconduct.
In November of that year, he was approached by Avondale Bowling Club for advice on selling a 1600sq m parcel of land.
Days later Drever announced he had found a buyer and prepared a sale and purchase agreement with a sale price of $330,000.
The vendor was Avondale Bowling Club Incorporated.
A summary of facts shows Drever secretly set up a company called Avondale Bowling Club Limited to buy the land under the name of his aunt Beverley Ellen Spain.
He then prepared a second sale and purchase agreement between Spain’s company Avondale Bowling Club Limited and 88 Cents Limited, a company owned by property developer Jonathan Michell.
The purchase price was $825,000 - an instant mark-up of nearly $500,000.
Both sales settled contemporaneously on December 6, 2016.
Drever was later charged with obtaining by deception, which carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ jail.
He admitted failing to disclose his financial interest in the deal, his relationship with Spain or that he knew the property was worth far more than the initial purchase price.
The second lot of charges related to offending at Auckland Speedway in 2019 involving complainant companies Springs Promotions Ltd and Speedway Racing Ltd.
Both companies are owned by Bill Buckley who ran speedway meetings at Western Springs Stadium.
A summary of facts said Drever was a speedway enthusiast and long-time family friend of Buckley.
In September 2019, Drever offered to volunteer for Springs Promotions Ltd to assist in preparation for the upcoming speedway season.
Between October 8 and December 13 of that year, Drever created 10 false invoices under the name Billboard Solutions, a legitimate company that provided advertising billboards.
He included a false GST number and made the invoice payable to an ANZ account belonging to a fast-food business he was linked to.
Drever then presented the fictitious invoices - totalling $86,247.99 - to Buckley to sign off for payment.
Between October 8 and October 14, Drever created two further false invoices under the name Toy & Model Collectors Market Ltd, which is not a legitimate company.
The invoices totalled $15,742.93 and purported to be for purchasing model cars.
The money was paid into an ANZ account belonging to a wealthy Australian businessman “of which the defendant has an interest in”.
The total loss to Buckley’s companies was $101,990.92.