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Two women from high-profile New Zealand families have been committed for trial on serious drugs charges.
Keita Nobilo, a member of the Nobilo Wines dynasty, was committed for trial on four charges, including possessing methamphetamine for supply, after a depositions hearing at the Waitakere District Court last week.
Nobilo's lawyer said the charges would be denied.
Meanwhile, Nadia, the stepdaughter of fashion designer Trelise Cooper, has been committed to the High Court for trial on eight P-related charges, including attempted distribution of the highly addictive form of methamphetamine.
Nobilo, an ex-girlfriend of former league star Matthew Ridge, faces a prison term or a hefty fine if found guilty of possessing methamphetamine for supply, possessing cocaine, possessing cannabis, and possessing a methamphetamine pipe.
Written depositions presented to the court last week revealed details of a police raid on a Muriwai house where Nobilo and then-boyfriend Josh McPherson were living last year. Police had gone to the address after investigating another man, an alleged ringleader of dozens of burglaries in west Auckland, and questioned Nobilo about what they had allegedly found.
Officer: I've been informed there's a glass pipe... in a sock. What can you tell me about this?
Nobilo: Umm, there will be my fingerprints on that.
Officer: What is the pipe used for?
Nobilo: Smoking.
Officer: Smoking what?
Nobilo: I might leave that question.
Later in the interview, she had told the officer the pipe was used for smoking "recreational substances", and confirmed she meant methamphetamine.
Asked if she had used methamphetamine, she had told the officer: "I don't know of any that was located upstairs." She said the cannabis was not hers, and "I haven't seen anyone using it".
Nobilo's grandfather Nikola founded Nobilo Wines in 1943, but the family is reported to have sold much of its shares in the company for $15 million.
In an interview with the Herald on Sunday last year, Nobilo spoke about her battle with P, and she feared her six-year addiction to the drug would cost her her life.
"When I got sick, after coming back from Japan, I just went downhill. I gave up on life really. I was very depressed and waiting for my time to come. I didn't think I was ever going to get well again."
Nobilo spent time at the Capri rehab clinic and is now clean.
Her lawyer, Mark Ryan, said yesterday: "Keita has consistently denied the allegations, she is committed to defending the allegations and is committed to clearing her name."
Meanwhile, Nadia Cooper, 32, daughter of Trelise Cooper's husband, Jack, pleaded not guilty to drug charges at a depositions hearing at Auckland District Court this month.
In court documents, police said Cooper took magazines and newspapers to Mt Eden Prison for an associate last November.
Corrections officers had become suspicious after noticing irregularities on one page of the November issue of Auto Trader and called police.
Police alleged a page had been photocopied and the copy glued on top of the original. When it was peeled back, police had found about a quarter of a gram of pure methamphetamine in two clear plastic bags glued underneath.
Text messages allegedly sent from Cooper to her prison associate had outlined which page the drugs were on. Cooper had been detained while police searched her car.
In the documents police said they had found a tin with a hidden compartment containing pocket scales, a rolled up $10 note, a glass pipe with white residue, more than 1.1g of methamphetamine in two bags and numerous plastic bags. Two wallets containing more than $8000 cash had also been seized.
Police also alleged they had found almost 4g of methamphetamine and chemicals and equipment commonly used to make it after searching the west Auckland flat where they said she lived alone.
Police said that the street value of pure methamphetamine was about $1000 a gram.
