Armed police swarm a property in Green Bay, following an earlier homicide near the New Haven Motel, New Lynn. Video / Michael Craig
A man who was found guilty of manslaughter instead of murder after tearfully telling jurors his shoddy gun accidentally discharged while trying to rob a methamphetamine dealer has been sentenced to seven years and 11 months’ imprisonment.
Dylan Harris, 36, who had been accused by prosecutors of an “execution”-style killing, looked down into his lap for much of his two-day sentencing hearing in the High Court at Auckland today and Friday as multiple family members of victim Robert “Robbie” Hart explained in detail the grief and emotional chaos his actions caused.
“Robbie, no matter his faults, was a very loving father,” said the grandmother of one of his two sons, describing the victim as a “kind-hearted man” despite his own struggles with addiction. “Robbie’s sudden death has left a void that can never be filled.”
Co-defendants Adam North and Jasmine Murray, a couple who were also found guilty of manslaughter for helping to lure Hart to the fake drug deal, also sat in the dock as Justice Paul Davison announced their sentences.
Murray, 21, was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment. North, 33, received a sentence of seven years and seven months.
“Together with Ms Murray, you instigated and orchestrated the whole situation,” the judge told North. “Of the two of you, it’s likely you played a more dominating role. Nevertheless, you and Ms Murray clearly worked closely together.”
Judge Davison began his remarks on Friday but adjourned the hearing until Monday after starting to lose his voice.
Hart, 40, was found dead on top of his motorbike, with a single gunshot wound that had travelled through his helmet and into his temple, on the morning of November 5, 2021, during one of Auckland’s extended Covid-19 lockdowns.
Phone records later recovered by police showed he had arrived at the New Lynn driveway after arranging to sell 14g of methamphetamine for $3000 to a woman he knew through Facebook whose profile name was Sativa AK, referring to a strain of cannabis.
What he didn’t realise, prosecutors said during the murder trial, was that Sativa AK’s phone had been stolen just days earlier by North and Murray and was being used by the couple to lure Hart to the fake drug deal, otherwise known as a “standover”.
New Lynn homicide victim Robert James Hart, 40, was father to two sons. Photo / Supplied
The lengths the couple went to in an attempt to make Hart think he was dealing with Sativa AK “demonstrates that something very sinister was going on here”, Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said during last month’s trial, arguing that the intention all along was to kill Hart.
Harris, however, told jurors that the shooting was an accident. He had intended to use the gun to intimidate and rob Hart of his drugs, but the shoddy sawn-off rifle with no trigger guard appears to have gone off on its own after he tapped the barrel against Hart’s helmet, he said. It’s also possible that his finger might have accidentally hit the trigger but he has no memory of it doing so, Harris testified.
Manslaughter occurs when an unintentional homicide is committed in the course of committing another offence, such as threatening with a gun. To reach a murder verdict for the three defendants, jurors would have needed to believe Harris intentionally pulled the trigger.
“Robert’s tragic death is yet another illustration of the serious danger of using and selling methamphetamine ... and how things can go horribly and rapidly wrong,” Justice Davison said today, describing all three defendants as frequent methamphetamine users who did not have jobs.
Addressing the judge during victim impact statements today, Hart’s family described their own fears over his drug addiction but also remembered him as a loving father of two and talented guitar player who was “funny and charming and had a huge heart”.
“He may not have made the wisest life choices and struggled with his addiction and demons, but that doesn’t make him a bad person,” his partner said. “Robbie, I miss you more than words can say. I think about you each and every day. I miss you so much.”
One of Hart’s brothers recalled his first thoughts - “no, no, no, no, no” - upon learning of the fatal shooting.
“One of my worst fears for Robert had become a reality,” he said. “It was inevitable something would happen but I didn’t want to believe it.”
Murray wiped away tears one of Hart’s sisters-in-law described the despair and disbelief upon learning of the death.
“The cowardly and callous act of killing Robbie is felt by many,” she said. “All three offenders have done this to us. All three offenders have to be held accountable.”
Dylan Harris, Adam North and Jasmine Murray appear in the High Court at Auckland. Photos / Alex Burton
The last to speak was the grandmother of Hart’s oldest son, who described the shockwave the trio’s actions caused on the already vulnerable 15-year-old’s life. But recognising the role methamphetamine played, she ended her address with an olive branch.
“Enough is enough, please,” she pleaded to Harris. “If you are as remorseful as you say you are, please use your time in prison to address your addiction.
“Please, be a dad for your children no matter how messed up you think you are. Your kids should not have to lose their [father] too.
“Clean yourself up and you’ll have my forgiveness.”
The judge acknowledged the “immeasurable heartbreak” of Hart’s family.
“Irrespective of what Mr Hart was involved in, he was a much-loved member of his family who was much loved by all of them,” Davison told the defendants.
“They, too, are victims of your offending.”
Police released this photo of Dylan Harris, describing him as dangerous and with "significant" gang connections, during a manhunt that followed the shooting. Photo / Supplied
Defence lawyer Dale Dufty, speaking on behalf of Harris, later acknowledged that his client, a father of six, has been a methamphetamine addict for many years. He now recognises his addiction and wants to get help, the lawyer said.
“He wishes me to express to the court he’s truly sorry for what happened,” Dufty said. “He regrets his actions and he wishes to express his sincerest apologies to the victim’s family. He’s genuinely sorry for what happened.”
Lawyer Sam Wimsett, representing North, agreed there were no winners as a result of what happened. Given his client’s background, raised in an environment of drugs and violence, it seemed inevitable North would “end up in the High Court facing sentencing for something like this”, he told the judge.
Murray’s lawyer, Lorraine Smith, noted that her client was just 20 years old at the time of the incident and in a relationship with a much older man. Her main role, she noted, was simply to serve as a “lure”.
But Justice Davison noted the “high degree of pre-meditation” by North and Murray, who planned a standover over the course of several days requiring “artful and well thought out measures” to deceive Hart into thinking he was dealing with an acquaintance. Harris, meanwhile, used a Covid mask and sunglasses to hide his identity.
“It’s clear their pre-mediation and planning ... is a very significant aggravating feature of the offending,” he said, listing other aggravating features as the usage of a loaded firearm, the danger posed to the public and the “elaborate planning and deception of Mr Hart” to put him in a vulnerable position.
While the jury didn’t find that Harris pulled the trigger on purpose, Davison said he nevertheless had to take into account as another aggravating feature “the extreme recklessness and dangerousness” of pointing a loaded firearm at his victim’s head.
The judge also took into account the difficult upbringings of the defendants.
Harris lost his father to suicide when he was young and spent his youth between foster care and an abusive mother, the judge noted, adding that the mother and son became permanently estranged when he was 13 - prior to her death when he was 15. He became a heavy cannabis user at age 10 and began smoking methamphetamine around the age of 15 to 17, quickly developing an addiction that has now lasted half of his life.
His upbringing and addiction created “a state of chaos and general lawlessness” in his childhood, extending through to adulthood, the judge said.
North, meanwhile, grew up with an abusive father and mother addicted to heroin and, like Harris, also ended up in foster care. He said he was introduced to methamphetamine at around age 13 by his father and has for the past eight years used about an ounce of the drug per week, an intense addiction which has been the primary driver of all of his offending.
There’s a clear link, the judge said, between his “turbulent and abusive childhood” and the current offending.
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.
