Meth-addicted man busted with drugs, cash, axe in car sent to jail

After being stopped by police in Mt Maunganui last year, Bradley Davies, 46, was found with an axe, cash and various drugs in his car.

When Bradley Davies was caught with drugs, an axe, and cash in his car, he was peddling methamphetamine to fuel an addiction so severe he’s been diagnosed with a meth-use disorder.

At the time, in May last year, he was on bail awaiting sentence for his ninth breach of protection order charge which he defended at trial.

Judge Stephen Clark found him guilty and sentenced him on that, along with multiple drug charges, plus his 21st for driving while disqualified, in the Hamilton District Court.

The protection order breach stemmed from a series of “fairly innocuous” text messages to the victim in October 2021.

At his trial, Davies said he’d previously had contact with the woman and had a “belief” he could do so.

However, Judge Stephen Clark found him guilty and told him that belief was not a reasonable excuse to contact her.

Davies earlier admitted charges of driving while disqualified and driving with excess breath alcohol on May 6 last year in Thames.

He returned a breath alcohol of 600 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, when the limit is 250mcg.

While on bail for that, Davies, listed in court documents as living in Thames-Coromandel, was stopped again six months later in Mt Maunganui.

Officers searched his car and found a tomahawk under the driver’s seat, and a bag containing drugs, cash, and utensils.

This included 5.25 grams of methamphetamine, divided into seven-and-a-half-quarter gram containers, seven tabs of LSD, $1026 in cash, digital scales, butane lighters, and other drug utensils.

Davies’ counsel Bill Nabney said his client had since been diagnosed with a severe methamphetamine use disorder and moderate alcohol disorder.

He was noted as being a meth user of “some significance”; dealing in the drug to drive his own addiction, Nabney said.

In sentencing Davies to jail, Judge Clark said the defendant’s previous convictions complicated the case.

“Although fairly innocuous, on the face of it, you have, on my count, at least eight previous [convictions] for similar [breaching protection order] offending,” adding that it would have a cumulative psychological effect on the victim.

“You have a long and unenviable criminal history that runs into 19 pages.”

It was the meth offending that was most serious, given the amount he had on him, but Judge Clark noted the various reports about his history and his “unsettled upbringing” that involved early exposure to alcohol and abuse.

After handing down discounts for that childhood, and addictions, the judge came to an end term of 33 months in prison.

He also disqualified Davies from driving for 18 months on the driving charges.