A number of Mongrel Mob members were arrested in relation to Operation Breaker One, which focused on the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine in the Waikato region. Photo / NZME
A number of Mongrel Mob members stole vehicles and then, using intimidatory tactics, attempted to sell them back to the owners.
In one instance, they demanded the victim sign a statement saying their Harley Davidson hadn’t been stolen and that a theft complaint would not be pursued.
Judge Paul Mabey, KC, described the actions of the gang members as “particularly sinister”.
“The gang involvement added to the overtones that were present,” he said, as he jailed Clayton Veitch Wilson this week for his part as a “lieutenant” in the police’s Operation Breaker One, which focused on the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine in the Waikato region.
Wilson was one of eight charged, including Ngakiri Bristow who was also jailed this week, for their respective roles in the operation. Bristow, based in Huntly, was regarded as a “street-level” meth dealer.
Wilson had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of offering to supply and supplying methamphetamine along with possession of meth for supply, two charges of burglary, a representative charge of theft, and one of attempting to obstruct justice.
Police were only able to prove just over 21 grams of the meth was actually supplied, relating to three instances in August 2021, where he met with the group’s leader to collect the meth.
Intercepted communications between Wilson and his leader reveal him using the word “mahi” for meth.
Bristow was sentenced on charges of offering to supply and supplying methamphetamine along with possession of meth for supply in relation to 22 grams of P.
During the operation, police also became aware of several burglaries in Huntly and Hamilton in August and September 2021 in which expensive vehicles were stolen.
Some of these vehicles were then offered back to the owners but at a price.
One in Huntly involved people whom the group’s leader knew and he suggested acting as a go-between to enable the recovery of the vehicle for them, for $5000.
Other vehicle thefts involved a $35,000 Harley Davidson in August 2021 and a $200,000 Holden GTS HSV from a Hamilton property in November 2021.
Wilson had tried to get the owner of the Harley Davidson to sign a statement saying it hadn’t been stolen.
Intercepted communications showed Wilson and his leader making plans to sell the Holden for $40,000 to an associate.
It was eventually found in Papakura in February 2022 being driven by a “well-known member of the Hells Angels gang”.
In court, Wilson’s counsel, Gerard Walsh, said his client did have a motivation to change and had already completed multiple courses while behind bars.
He also insisted Wilson was remorseful, but Judge Mabey wasn’t so sure.
“Where’s that coming from,” the judge replied, then noting “one line” referencing remorse in his pre-sentence report.
Walsh changed tack to Wilson’s criminal history which showed he had “been in custody more often than not”.
“Every year since the [early] 2000s, on and off,” Judge Mabey replied.
Walsh said Wilson had recently experienced people close to him dying and this time his impetus for change was “real”.
Wilson, appearing for sentencing via audio-visual link from prison, then spoke up and asked if he could have the opportunity to apologise, however Judge Mabey said “it wouldn’t make any difference anyway”.
Judge Mabey described the attempt to sell the cars back to the owners they had been stolen from as a “serious incident of attempting to pervert the course of justice”.
He took a starting point of six years before allowing discounts for his background but then applied a six-month uplift for his criminal history.
He declined to give a discount for remorse stating, “I see no actual remorse that would justify a reduction.”
Judge Mabey came to an end sentence for Wilson of four years in jail.
In sending Bristow to prison for 25 months, the judge found her offending was driven by money rather than a suggested addiction.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.
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