One client admitted using methamphetamine regularly while on bail at the Auckland rehab service. Photo / NZME
A judge has flagged “real concerns” with how a Government-contracted drug rehab service is managed after evidence of residents using drugs.
Issues with the Grace Foundation’s homes in Auckland, which house defendants and offenders on electronically monitored bail, have been raised in two recent Rotorua court cases.
Judge John Bergseng raised his concerns during a hearing for convicted methamphetamine dealer Corey James Tito.
Tito, from Tokoroa, was allegedly caught twice for using drugs at a foundation house and had not been put on a court-directed drug rehabilitation course.
Separately, allegations of foundation clients using drugs at the homes and a “house leader” helping to cover up a client’s escape were raised in a murder trial.
The Rotorua Daily Post tried to contact the Grace Foundation for comment.
The Department of Corrections said it was aware of the concerns and was working with the foundation to ensure compliance.
It comes as new figures released to Newstalk ZB show the number of electronic bail violations has rocketed nationally over a decade.
Tito, 40, was convicted last year of drug charges, including supplying methamphetamine.
His case was called in the Rotorua District Court on September 5, when he was supposed to be sentenced.
Crown prosecutor Kris Bucher told Judge Bergseng that Tito was supposed to be sentenced in December, but the court delayed this and bailed him to the Grace Foundation to complete an intensive live-in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme.
Months passed and he didn’t start the course. Instead, he did courses on parenting and anger management, Bucher said.
Tito’s lawyer, Pavee Patanasiri, asked for his sentencing to be adjourned again so Tito could do the proper course.
Patanasiri said the foundation had reported that Tito had been doing well, despite failing two drug tests while in its care.
Bucher raised concerns that police had not been advised of the positive drug tests - which amounted to breaches of Tito’s electronically monitored (EM) bail conditions - until the day of his court case on September 5.
Judge Bergseng indicated that police should have been made aware earlier. “That is completely inappropriate.”
He agreed that Tito needed to stay on the course, and reluctantly adjourned the sentencing again until November 12.
“It’s another one of those issues that raises real concerns about the Grace Foundation and the way they operate in terms of EM bail.”
Issues with the foundation were also raised in the trial of Teina Williams, who was found guilty of murder on Thursday in the High Court at Rotorua.
The Crown proved Williams, who was on EM bail with the service, escaped and shot rival Black Power gang member Ryan Woodford at an emergency housing motel in Taupō in March 2022.
The Crown alleged foundation client Henry Mau’u, who admitted using methamphetamine daily while on bail with the service, covered for Williams during his escape.
Evidence produced showed Williams was regularly smoking methamphetamine while with the rehab service and was regularly putting tin foil on his EM bracelet - the method he used to go offline and escape.
It emerged at trial that the foundation ran a management system in which clients were promoted to house leaders for good behaviour - including Mau’u.
House leaders are responsible for ensuring those at the foundation’s homes have working bracelets and report to the foundation’s upper managers.
The Rotorua Daily Post asked Corrections questions, including how much it paid the Grace Foundation and whether it was aware of concerns.
Acting deputy chief executive of communities, partnerships and pathways Luke McMahon said Corrections managed about 26,000 people and was committed to ensuring they complied with their conditions.
He said judges approved addresses to which people could be remanded.
Corrections worked with groups, including the Grace Foundation, to provide supported accommodation to defendants and offenders.
“The reality is that, without supported accommodation services, people could be homeless and living on the streets or in cars, which would present an unacceptable safety risk to communities.”
Corrections’ contract with the Grace Foundation to house people on EM bail began in 2021 and would end in May 2027.
“Corrections is aware of concerns raised recently by the judiciary about the Grace Foundation.
“Corrections has made it clear to the foundation that we have strong expectations that all our procedures are followed, [that] the men we manage … are required to abide by any other court-imposed conditions, and that they will be held to account if they don’t.”
McMahon said public safety was Corrections’ “top priority” and it continued to work with the foundation to ensure residents were compliant and supported in their rehabilitation and reintegration.
Corrections refused to disclose how much the contract was worth, citing commercial sensitivity.
The Rotorua Daily Post made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the Grace Foundation and its founder, David Letele snr.
Letele was called as a Crown witness in Williams’ trial.
He agreed he was aware of issues with clients “foiling” their bracelets to escape and covering CCTV cameras to sneak people in and out.
He told the court that Corrections tried to change the model of bracelets to prevent foiling, but it made little difference.
Questioned about clients being put in charge as house leaders, he said the foundation’s kaupapa was to “build from within” and help people through leadership tiers with more responsibility.
House leaders were in charge at the live-in facilities, but senior managers would sometimes make calls or check the houses.
House leaders had key codes to unlock gates at the homes, but he admitted under questioning that the “secret” codes would have got out to others.
Letele said he was called if there were EM bracelet issues, and he would call the house leaders.
He told the NZ Herald in April that there were 239 occasions on which Grace Foundation residents had breached their bail conditions in 2024 and police were called.
“While any breach is a concern, you have to look at the people we receive and the circumstances they have come from,” he said.
Having been a gang member who was jailed in the 1980s for aggravated robbery, he understood the clients.
“We do a lot of work with parolees, who have served long sentences and many don’t have places to reintegrate back into society.
“Because I have done long sentences, I know what they are thinking and what they are going through.”
The Grace Foundation has been operating for 18 years and provides 25 programmes, including alcohol and drugs, therapy and counselling.
Residents pay $400 a week, which covers accommodation, transport, the programmes, food and general living costs. The money is deducted from their benefits.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.