The trial of the man allegedly at the apex of the Head Hunters concluded with his lawyer claiming the police case against him is fundamentally flawed.
Now the decision on whether he must forfeit the gang’s sprawling pad and other properties is in the hands of a judge. George Block reports.
When Wayne Doyle was last released from prison in 2001, he resolved to stay clear of crime and focus on his family, his lawyer Ron Mansfield KC said.
Yes, Mansfield acknowledges, that family included not only his many children and grandchildren but also his beloved Head Hunters Motorcycle Club.
But his role in the club was not one of de facto president, he said.
He is not the “Teflon Don” police cast him as, reaping the rewards of the drug dealing and extortion committed by some of the gang’s members while staying clear of any actual involvement, Mansfield said.
Instead, Doyle adopted a pastoral role, taking an interest in the welfare of younger members, he said.
The fact Doyle was for years the point of contact for police who came to the East chapter’s gym and pad at 232 Marua Rd, Auckland was a result of his mana in the club and level-headed approach, not evidence of him being leader, Mansfield claimed.
“He nonetheless was a senior patched member of the club who carries significant mana,” Mansfield said in his closing submissions on Monday.
The KC said Doyle also enjoyed his involvement in the Head Hunters’ public-facing, more community-minded activities, including its regular deadlifting competitions, league games, fight nights and lotteries.
Some of those activities generated legitimate income for Doyle beyond the social welfare benefits the prosecution says were insufficient to fund his several properties across Auckland, including the Marua Rd, Mount Wellington pad.
A key pillar of Mansfield’s defence is the fact Doyle has not been charged with any crime since his release in 2001.
Nor was he ever recalled to prison under the terms of his life parole, requiring monthly meetings with a probation officer.
“He’s simply, for want of a better way of putting it, an elder statesman involved in the management of the club,” Mansfield said.
Police disagree.
The Police Commissioner is seeking profit and asset forfeiture orders totalling more than $15 million against Doyle and targeting five properties, including 232 Marua Rd, his home in East Auckland and a property in Auckland’s inner suburbs long linked to the Doyle family.
Within the scope of the orders sought are the capital gains of the properties police say are tainted by the proceeds of crime.
Prosecutor Mark Harborow said the fact Doyle has not been charged or convicted since 2001 or recalled to prison was no barrier to police efforts to force him to forfeit his wealth.
The Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, passed in 2009, was designed to supplant earlier legislation police found was unable to deal with people involved in crime who had succeeded in distancing themselves from offending.
Police only need to show someone profited from crime under the lower standard of proof used in civil cases - “on the balance of probabilities” - rather than the “beyond reasonable doubt” standard in criminal trials.
Doyle was not involved in a criminal sense in the methamphetamine dealing or standovers - dubbed “taxings” - by which members of the Head Hunters made money, Harborow said.
But he derived benefit from the offending via the 20 per cent koha members of the Head Hunters are required to pay to the club, police allege.
Mansfield delivered his closing submissions this week in Doyle’s judge-alone civil trial in the Auckland High Court, before Justice Peter Andrew.
He began with an anecdote from early in his legal career quoting the late barrister John Haigh QC.
“As a rookie I made the comment that the material being presented by the Crown was overwhelming,” Mansfield says.
“And his comment back to me was ‘it’s not the quantity of the evidence, it’s the quality of it’.”
Mansfield said the police evidence did not establish, to the required standard for order of forfeiture, that Doyle or entities he is alleged to control benefited knowingly from significant criminal activity.
Police cited intercepted communications from historic investigations, mainly drug-related, that they claim show Doyle had knowledge of how Head Hunters members were earning their money, and in one case purportedly showing him demanding a cut from the proceeds.
Mansfield said there was a paucity of evidence that those funds made their way to Doyle or any of the relevant entities.
Those entities include the That Was Then, This is Now charitable trust, set up after Doyle’s release from prison with the aim of helping prisoners reintegrate into society, but which the police say is the Head Hunters in all but name.
“There are some fundamental holes and gaps in the Commissioner’s case which they cannot fill,” Mansfield said.
He also said relevant witnesses that were the subject of the historic investigations were not called by the Commissioner on the basis they were “unavailable”, depriving the defence of the opportunity to cross-examine them to test their credibility in open court.
“Simply because a witness is reluctant or hesitant or even scared is not a basis in my submission to say … a witness is unavailable,” he said.
One investigation cited by police was Operation Ark, targeting a $50m designer drug ring selling Ecstasy-analogue pills.
Police allege the syndicate was required to pay a portion of the sale of each pill to the Head Hunters, which they called “The Trust”, referring to intercepted communications from one of the syndicate’s members threatening someone that he would involve the gang in a matter.
But Mansfield said that syndicate member had a reputation for dishonesty. He should have been called to give evidence so cross-examination could help establish his reliability and credibility, Mansfield said.
“People can be sarcastic, people can lie, and people can make statements for their own motives,” he said.
“All of that context is really lost and is certainly unable to be challenged through cross-examination.”
Another of the investigations involved a member of the Head Hunters who had kidnapped a man and was using him to facilitate robberies of drug dealers, a lucrative scheme netting $200,000, according to police.
In a rare instance of Doyle being careless on the phone, he was overheard in an intercepted conversation demanding a “koha” from the Head Hunter behind the kidnapping, police said.
During his evidence, Doyle told the court that members are hit with $500 fines if they fail to undertake “tour of duty” shifts manning the Marua Rd pad.
Mansfield said it was this fine Doyle was overheard seeking to recover, not a cut of the proceeds of the kidnapping.
When he finished his closing address, it was almost a month since the trial started and six years since the raid on Marua Rd and Doyle’s properties that brought the police asset case into public view.
Justice Andrew reserved his decision and did not give a timeframe on when it was expected to be released.
Read more of the Herald’s full, exclusive coverage of the Doyle trial:
George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.
B2 bombers in Guam amid Iran tensions. Zelenskyy accuses Putin of being 'uninterested' in peace. Stabbing at Pakuranga Night Market. Video / NZ Herald