Tangaroa Demant appeared in the High Court at Hamilton for sentencing on Wednesday. Photo / Belinda Feek
Tangaroa Demant went from exporting crayfish to importing cocaine with the help of a Mexican drug cartel.
After losing his “moral compass”, the 60-year-old became the kingpin of a local group negotiating with the cartel to import 200 “keys” or kilograms of cocaine, concealed inside a shipping container.
While the large shipment never arrived, Demant was still successful with smaller cocaine packages.
His co-offenders have all been sentenced but today Demant had his day in court.
He appeared in the High Court at Hamilton before Justice Mark Woolford who served him with a jail term of seven years and two months on charges of importing and conspiring to import cocaine and possession and possession of methamphetamine for supply.
Demant’s daughters, including Black Fern co-captain Ruehai Demant, sat in the public gallery in support of their father.
They were able to speak with him at the end of the hearing, as he appeared via audio-visual link from Manawatū Prison.
Ruahei Demant and her sisters declined to comment when approached outside court.
During the sentencing, the women and Demant all shed tears as details were heard about the unravelling of his life.
About 10 years prior to his offending, he was a happily married man of 30 years, working and running the family business on a fishing boat exporting rock lobster to China.
He was the chair of the Ōmāio school board of trustees, chair of the local marae and a kapa haka group.
But then Demant lost almost $1 million in investment, resulting in him losing his business, four homes he owned, and his marriage.
There were numerous reasons; including his own bookkeeping but also Covid and the associated costs.
Demant was left feeling embarrassed and alone. Without his wife or any of his six children, he moved back in with his parents.
Due to his life being turned upside down, he resorted to using and making money from drugs.
“I was arrogant and misguided and looking for easy money,” he told his cultural report writer.
“But my life was continuing to unravel and I had lost my moral compass.
“I chose to go down a dark road ... I was weak and gave into temptation.”
He had since reconnected with his children.
Demant was the original target of Operation Tarpon when the covert inquiry began in September 2020.
The investigation started after he was seen meeting with an organised crime figure from Australia, who happened to be under police surveillance at the time.
Demant, who was a commercial fisherman from Te Kaha and had extensive sailing experience, told his family and friends he planned to sail overseas.
But that was a lie.
He was instead living on his boat, Good Times, in Whangaroa Harbour in the Far North where he made plans and calls with overseas-based suppliers, including a contact within a Mexican cartel.
Head Hunter gang member Tama Waitai was released from prison in 2020 after serving time for a brutal home invasion.
Almost immediately, he got involved in Demant’s plans with the cartel to import 200 “keys” or kilograms of cocaine concealed inside a shipping container.
Co-offender Maurice Swinton was then drawn into the group as he worked at the port and said he could meet the ship.
By early 2021, they realised the ship would dock on the other side of the port so they roped in another associate, Ryan Walsh.
In March of that year, Demant told his group he would confirm the shipment, and days later, there was a reference to “27″, suggesting the arrival date was March 27, 2021.
As the group waited, there were multiple calls between Waitai and Demant discussing their intention to take the cartel’s drugs - but then not pay them for it.
However, they never received the drugs as on March 23, Demant called Waitai saying it had been delayed before confirming to his associates the same day that he was “not going to make it happen”.
Demant did successfully import smaller packages of cocaine in January 2021. About 300 grams were found inside one container, while it remained unclear how much was in another that came from Guatemala.
Angel Gabriel Gavito Alvarado was living in Tauranga as the New Zealand-based representative of the Mexican drug suppliers and co-ordinated their activity “on the ground”, including sending money overseas and arranging the delivery of methamphetamine to Tangaroa Demant.
The methamphetamine charges relate to him picking up a “couple of keys” of liquid meth in February, and conspiring to import 15kg of ephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of P.
Justice Woolford accepted his explanation his offending was driven by greed and he was now keen to get his life back on track and was seeking help to change his mindset.
Demant will soon be eligible for parole after spending three years in custody.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and has been a journalist for 19 years.
A tavern operating without a duty manager also found in breach.