John Griffiths joined the Mob to get away from his deprived childhood, now he’s in jail

John Griffiths was jailed for two years and 10 months for his part in a drug ring, uncovered by Operation Oakville's investigation into the sale of P in Auckland, Waikato, and Wellington. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

A man who grew up having to steal food out of rubbish bins to survive went on to become a patched Mongrel Mob member to get a “sense of family”.

At age 4 John Richard Griffiths was at times seen wandering the streets of Ngāruawāhia and playing by the river with his siblings by a social worker.

The man tried to help and ultimately got the Wellington boy into various foster and care homes.

But what was supposed to help the youngster would ultimately traumatise Griffiths after he suffered various forms of abuse.

It was this deprived upbringing that Justice Layne Harvey gave Griffiths credit for during sentencing for his part in a methamphetamine and GBL drug ring.

An investigation into the ring dubbed Operation Oakville ended with a police sting netting those behind a network of class A and B drug sales in Waikato, Auckland, and Wellington.

Griffiths is the brother of senior Mongrel Mob member Mark Griffiths, who pleaded guilty to his major part in the ring in October.

Mark Griffiths, the Crown says, was the ringleader of the operation, while his partner Sharon Marfell was a kingpin, travelling to get drugs and supplying them to other members of the Mongrel Mob and her own customers.

Mark Griffiths is set to be sentenced in May, while Marfell was jailed for seven years.

Jonn Griffiths was today jailed on a charge of possession of 112g of methamphetamine for supply between September 6 and 10, 2020, and two representative charges of supplying P between October and December 2020.

The 47-year-old was inadvertently picked up during the course of the operation, Crown prosecutor Jacinda Hamilton told Justice Harvey in the High Court at Hamilton today, once police started sifting through their intercepted communications.

Griffiths encouraged Mark to use the encrypted messaging app, Signal, as communications can’t be intercepted by police.

However, police uncovered a text between the brothers identifying that Griffiths was supplied 112g from Mark in Wellington.

They also uncovered other messages where Griffiths supplied P four times, however, the quantities remain unknown.

Hamilton said an aggravating feature was the fact Griffiths continued to offend - by supplying P twice - while on bail awaiting sentencing and after being sentenced to home detention in the Wellington District Court on other charges.

Griffiths’ counsel Paul Surridge said his client “had a narrow circle” of people he trusted.

This impeded the lawyer’s ability to deal with his client and go through the Crown evidence while he was on remand in prison, as there were constant issues trying to get into jail.

Griffiths axed his membership with the Mob which had caused further troubles in prison, especially when he had to spend time in Spring Hill instead of Rimutaka.

Surridge said his client had a “terrible” upbringing and cited a Ngāruawāhia social worker’s report from 1980 which said he’d found 4-year-old Griffiths and his siblings wandering around town by themselves, and later playing by the river, as their parents drank at a local hotel.

The boy was put in care homes which, although supposed to protect him, left him traumatised by events that would happen to him through to his teenage years.

Surridge submitted his client was “nothing more than a courier” during the offending period, but Hamilton disputed that, stating he had a “significant role”.

Justice Harvey found that Griffiths and his brother were both contractors, dealing with each other with their own businesses.

He also accepted Griffiths’ upbringing, blighted by deprivation, abuse, addiction, and neglect, with him having “basically no parental care of most of your life”.

He stole food from rubbish bins at one point to survive and grew up feeling as though “no one gave a damn about you”.

He got into a gang aged in his teens as he felt they were family and gave him a sense of belonging.

After handing down multiple discounts for guilty pleas, remorse, and his upbringing, Griffiths was jailed for two years and 10 months.