Son gets $84,000 back from dad in sequel to Hawke's Bay drug bust

A judge has ruled more than $80,000 in a Hawke's Bay drug dealer's bank account can be paid to the man's son as the rightful owner.

The decision has been made by Justice Francis Cooke following a hearing earlier this month after a Crown application for forfeiture of assets, stemming from the conviction of Te Haroto man Derek Wayne Irwin, 58.

In 2018, Irwin was sentenced to 13 years 6 months' jail stemming from methamphetamine dealing uncovered four years earlier. Irwin had also been sentenced to three years' jail in 2006 for possession of methamphetamine for supply.

The son was not implicated in the offending.

About $310,000 in cash and more than 0.4kg of methamphetamine had been found after a search of Irwin's property in October 2014.

The 5.5ha property and a 1970 Ford Mustang were seized under restraint orders as assets or tainted property under the Proceeds of Crimes Act, and $97,000 in Irwin's account was also restrained.

The latest decision after a one-day hearing in the High Court at Napier was based on an application by the Commissioner of Police for $793,067.33, claimed to be unlawful proceeds of the dealing plus more than $100,000 of unlawfully obtained benefit payments.

Irwin, represented by Russell Fairbrother, QC, did not oppose the application, but Justice Cooke accepted $84,269 in the account belonged to Irwin's son and should be returned to the son as money left to him by his late mother.

The order was also opposed by Irwin's former partner of nine years, who sought a half-share of the property and the car. While accepting she was not involved in the drug dealing, the judge said she would have been aware of the offending, adding it was likely to be the source of money she received in the relationship.

Following the previous offending, a judge in 2006 ruled that $2450 found hidden in a woodpile in a raid the previous year could not be proven as proceeds from Irwin's offending and had to be returned.