NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Man involved in Hawke's Bay $2.5 million meth bust gets prison sentence dropped

Melissa Nightingale
By Melissa Nightingale
Senior Reporter, NZ Herald - Wellington·NZ Herald·
8 May, 2020 11:18 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

“Currently in New Zealand the best way to make money is to sell Methamphetamine.” Fighting the Demon explores the business of meth.

A man involved in a $2.5 million meth bust in Hawke's Bay has had his three and a half year prison sentence dropped to 12 months of home detention.

Uriah Whetu Monty Wirihana received a prison sentence of three years and seven months for his role in Hawke's Bay's biggest meth bust, but said his starting point for sentencing should have been lower.

Hawke's Bay police made their largest ever methamphetamine bust in the region after a six-month-long investigation into an organised crime unit.

They seized 3kg of meth holding a street value of $2.5m, along with $343,000 in cash, 2200 LSD tabs, eight firearms, six upmarket vehicles and a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Wirihana was among the 13 people arrested in the initial investigation.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

At a Wellington Court of Appeal hearing in February, Wirihana's lawyer, Russell Fairbrother QC, said his client's involvement in the drug ring was low-level.

He said Wirihana was a "small-time user", who used meth to get through long working days while he worked two jobs.

Fairbrother argued Wirihana's sentence should be adjusted because of a change in the standard the courts used to judge similar offences.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The justice system had recently adopted a new standard for this type of offending - different to the previous standard Wirihana had been sentenced in line with - and his sentence should now be "scaled back accordingly", he said.

In a judgement released today, the judges granted the appeal and quashed Wirihana's original sentence, substituting it with one of home detention.

They said the circumstances of the case were "quite unusual".

"Mr Wirihana was a contributing member of the community. He had a full-time job, and he and his partner had a cleaning business franchise," the judgement said.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Housewives of P county: Why more Kiwi women are getting hooked on meth

11 Jan 04:00 PM
New Zealand|crime

Third of middle-aged Kiwis have tried meth, study suggests

19 Feb 03:07 AM
New Zealand|crime

Meth bust: Two arrested after $8m haul found in suitcase

08 May 04:31 AM
New Zealand

Five arrested: Meth, money and firearms seized in drug operation

08 May 06:05 AM

"It appeared he used methamphetamine to remain awake so he could work two jobs. He was not an addict."

Wirihana stored 336g of meth at his home on a co-offender's behalf, but made no money for doing so.

He also sourced a small amount of meth to supply to other people.

Sentencing Wirihana was difficult because the sentencing judge was bound by case law, which indicated sentences based on the quantity of drugs involved.

But new case law meant the sentence could now focus on Wirihana's lesser involvement in the offending.

As directed by the sentencing judge, Wirihana has been on bail since his sentencing, so has not yet served any of his prison sentence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

An updated report on his circumstances show that during this time he has kept his full-time job, maintained his relationship with his partner, and completed drug and alcohol counselling.

He is subject to random drug testing at his job and gave evidence of his clear results.

"It is almost three years since his offending. We understand he has spent the whole of that period on bail. His conduct during that time evidences not only prospects of, but actual, rehabilitation.

"He has taken steps to address the causes of his offending and he is willing to take more. He has a stable and supportive family life and is a valued and contributing member of society. He is drug-free. The likelihood of him reoffending is assessed as low."

Sending him to prison now would have a "disproportionately severe effect" and would destroy the benefits of the progress Wirihana had made.

The judges allowed larger discounts to Wirihana's end sentence for his personal circumstances, which allowed the prison term to drop down to a level which could be swapped for home detention.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New ZealandUpdated

Rotorua land once earmarked for bypass set for new development

01 Jul 09:42 PM
OpinionUpdated

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

01 Jul 09:21 PM
New Zealand

Prices continue to slide in latest GDT

01 Jul 09:05 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Rotorua land once earmarked for bypass set for new development

Rotorua land once earmarked for bypass set for new development

01 Jul 09:42 PM

The land was initially planned for the Rotorua Eastern Arterial.

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

NZ Herald comments: The stories open for discussion today

01 Jul 09:21 PM
Prices continue to slide in latest GDT

Prices continue to slide in latest GDT

01 Jul 09:05 PM
Homicide investigation launched after body found at Auckland property

Homicide investigation launched after body found at Auckland property

01 Jul 09:04 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP