Illegal gun collector Dennis Sukanaveita sentenced for New Windsor home clan lab

An alleged methamphetamine cook with an eye for restricted assault-style rifles lost his clan lab and his substantial gun cache after getting caught red-handed trying to purchase two pistols online from an undercover police officer.

Police raided Dennis Christopher Sukanaveita’s New Windsor home in April 2022 after a three-month covert investigation that started with a tip-off from the United States Department of Homeland Security.

He had agreed to buy two Glock pistols for $15,000 despite their retail value being substantially less – between $1000 and $1500 – for those who have a firearms license and can legally purchase them. Sukanaveita – an ex-con whose most recent trip to prison had been in 2015 – was not licensed.

In determining Sukanaveita’s latest sentence today in Auckland District Court, Judge Grant Fraser juxtaposed two different impressions of the defendant: on one hand a loving stay-at-home dad who is concerned about the effects his prison sentence would have on his children, and on the other hand a man willing to leave loaded firearms and ammunition unsecured throughout the family’s home and to expose them to methamphetamine manufacturing.

Judge Fraser imposed a sentence of four years and three months, taking into account Sukanaveita’s remorse and difficult upbringing.

“You were dealt some rough cards as a child,” the judge said, declining to go into details.

“No child should be dealt the cards that you were.”

Court documents outline how Sukanaveita, 39, was duped into thinking he had met a fellow gun enthusiast online who could smuggle firearms from Australia.

Using an encrypted messaging app, the defendant told the undercover officer what he was looking for: “Just any small ones bro. Glocks. Revolvers. Just any pistols. And what would be the price range? ... also will they come with rounds? And would like to get an extra clip or two with the first one if we can?”

Some of the firearms found in a Mt Roskill address this week after an undercover sting operation. Photo / Supplied

The officer strung Sukanaveita along for a month and a half before setting up a meeting in Auckland Central to finalise the purchase. Sukanaveita, however, got suspicious that it might be a sting and backed out. Police executed the search warrant several weeks later.

At the home, police found a restricted M16A4 semi-automatic assault rifle in the boot of his car. Its serial number had been removed and it was loaded with 22 rounds.

An inoperable but still illegal shotgun was discovered in his garage and a restricted M15 assault rifle with scope attached was found in his basement.

The bulk of the firearms, however, were found underneath his bed or elsewhere in the home’s master bedroom. They included a Ruger.22 rifle; two modified blank pistols, one loaded with four live bullets; a Norinco NHM90 Sporter assault rifle; and a prohibited Ruger rifle loaded with 12 rounds. Police also found a silencer, 335 loose rounds throughout the home and 12 blank bullets.

In the bedroom search, police also discovered over 200 grams of methamphetamine of varying degrees of purity separated into multiple bags, $1710 in cash, digital scales, and over 760g of isopropylbenzylamine – a crystalised substance often used by methamphetamine dealers to dilute their product.

A clandestine laboratory was found in the basement.

One of the military-style firearms discovered in the Auckland home of a man targeted in an undercover sting by the Firearms Investigation Team. Photo / Supplied

“An A4 handwritten piece of paper with instructions on the manufacture of methamphetamine was also located in the main bedroom occupied by Mr Sukanaveita,” authorities noted in court documents.

“That piece of paper contained a hand-drawn picture of a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory and a step-by-step guide to importing illegal drugs into New Zealand.”

Sukanaveita pleaded guilty earlier this year to attempted possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of methamphetamine for supply and manufacturing methamphetamine.

While the attempted firearm possession charge for which he was first investigated carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment, the drugs charges are punishable by up to life imprisonment.

Crown prosecutor Abigail Stuart suggested during today’s hearing that the drug-selling paraphernalia found around the house suggested the defendant had sold unknown quantities of the drug for commercial gain before the raid.

She described the firearms offending as “quite serious”.

“This isn’t a case where there was just one or two firearms at the property,” she said.

But defence lawyer Annabel Ives said her client is a devoted parent who has started attending church again in his effort to rehabilitate.

He had lost his job due to Covid-19 restrictions and was “at worst” allowing his home to be used by another manufacturer to earn extra income for his family, she said, pointing out that the meth lab was not not operational at the time and there were no raw ingredients for the drug found in the home.

Judge Fraser said he wrestled with whether to take Sukanaveita’s claims of remorse seriously given his previous convictions. But he said a letter of apology to the court showed real insight into the harm his offending has caused.

“I’m committed to seeking redemption and making amends wherever possible,” the defendant said in the letter, explaining that he recently earned his NCEA qualifications and hoped to seek an apprenticeship as a carpenter after his release from prison.

“Obviously, you have to be made accountable for the harm you have occasioned,” the judge responding, adding that he had hope he could make good on his goals.

“I think you’re probably at a pretty contemplative stage.”

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.