A trial date has been set for next year for an Auckland man who was charged with illegal drug supply and manslaughter after another man is believed to have died drinking a can of beer laced with high-purity liquid methamphetamine.
The 40-year-old appeared for the first time in the High Court at Auckland today alongside his 30-year-old co-defendant, who also faces drug-related charges but not manslaughter. Both men continue to have interim name suppression.
Justice Sally Fitzgerald began the hearing by acknowledging the family of Aiden Sagala, who died on March 7 in Auckland City Hospital after police said he “innocently sat down for a beer” not realising that it was laced with drugs.
Sagala’s death sparked Operation Lavender, a wider investigation into an alleged methamphetamine importation operation, as well as a warning to the public not to consume cans labelled Honey Bear House Beer - packaged in a distinctive red and blue aluminium can with imagery of a bear and a maple leaf.
In the course of the investigation, police seized a large quantity of methamphetamine and other drugs in Manukau with a preliminary estimated street value thought to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
