Constable gave away P seized in drug bust

A Manukau police constable gave away methamphetamine seized in a drugs bust, a judge in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Joseph William Rawiri, 27, admitted a charge of supplying methamphetamine, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

David Jones, QC, prosecuting, said another charge of theft of a controlled drug was being withdrawn. Justice Mark Cooper remanded Rawiri on bail for sentencing in October.

Defence counsel Todd Simmonds told the judge that a police summary of facts was accepted.

Rawiri was on patrol with a colleague in January when they pulled over a car in Manurewa and found two point bags of methamphetamine each weighing a tenth of a gram.

The police account says that Rawiri took the bags, intending to destroy them when he returned to Manurewa police station, but did not in fact destroy them.

At home in Manukau later, he found the P bags in his pocket and gave them to two non-police associates.

When spoken to by senior officers, Rawiri, a father of two, admitted taking the drugs. He told officers his associates were "looking to hook up a P deal".

He told them: "Here's a couple of little bags that I forgot to destroy. If you can get anything out of them, youse [sic] can have that."

The summary says Rawiri was remorseful for his actions and for embarrassing the police.