Police applaud meth verdicts

A top result was how police described yesterday's guilty verdicts against six members of a Horowhenua methamphetamine ring.

Jury deliberations in the High Court at Palmerston North took 21 hours -- spread over 50 hours and two nights in a hotel -- before Andrew Crombie, Gary O'Connell, Dennis Hines, Adrian Chatfield, Stanley Sole and Nathan Poihipi were found guilty of conspiracy to supply methamphetamine.

The charges were laid after a police operation in Levin last year.

A seventh accused, Willie Hines, entered a guilty plea to the same charge earlier in the trial.

Justice Warwick Gendall remanded the men in custody for sentencing on June 17.

Detective Sergeant Pete Govers of Levin who headed the operation described the clean sweep of convictions as "a top result".

In defence closings earlier this week, lawyers for the accused criticised the lack of evidence against many of their clients.

Dennis Hines' counsel, Mike Antunovic, told the jury the case against his client was "pathetically weak" and urged jurors not to be swayed by "some fancy words" masquerading as evidence.

He said the Crown had abandoned, as the trial went on, much of the evidence against Hines, and by closing relied solely on surveillance tapes featuring Hines.

The tapes failed to give a context to any of Hines' recorded comments, he said.

Val Nesbitt, for Chatfield, said the jury had to be "bloody sure you get it right" when considering its verdicts.

Though his client had admitted to being a methamphetamine addict, it did not mean that he was a drug dealer.

He said Chatfield -- who earned more than $400,000 a year as an investment banker -- was "the local boy made good" who had become friends with Crombie through Levin rugby league circles.

Chatfield believed he was giving Crombie money for legitimate purposes when Crombie asked him to wire $9000 to Australia.

Crombie had taken advantage of his friendship with the wealthy Chatfield, Mr Nesbitt said.

Noel Sainsbury told the court in closing on behalf of his client, Sole, that there was not sufficient evidence to convict.

He said there were 15 passages on the surveillance tapes where it was alleged Sole was speaking, but he was never named on several of them, he said.

Poihipi's counsel, Stephen Gill, maintained his client's innocence during his closing.

Detective Glen Jackson of Levin, who presided over the transcribing of the tapes, had never heard Poihipi's voice live and therefore there was no proof he was the man identified on the surveillance tapes as "Nate", he said.

Also, investigators failed to find any evidence of drug use, let alone dealing, at Poihipi's Lower Hutt home, Mr Gill said.

- nzpa