Meth dealer Darius Porter had a background of addiction and trauma, courts were told. Photo / NZME
Police who turned out to an early-morning car crash found themselves following a trail of evidence which led them to $400,000 worth of methamphetamine hidden in a motel wardrobe.
The trial started with the driver of the car, Darius Marvin Porter, who crashed on State Highway 1 between Tūrangi and Taupō while he was on the way to visit some old prison mates, on August 12, 2023.
He was on parole himself at the time, having been sent to jail in 2020 for methamphetamine dealing the previous year.
Porter was arrested at the crash site after officers found more meth in his possession - 2.56 grams, roughly half the amount which would warrant a further charge of possession for supply.
But Porter was also carrying other items which could be associated with drug-dealing: digital scales, a thermal optic scope that allowed him to see in the dark, two cellphones, and more than $2000 in cash.
All this was enough to send police to search a motel room Porter had booked in Tūrangi, where more items were uncovered.
He had another cellphone there, and an examination of the phones later on revealed Porter had been using an app called Threema to make encrypted communications.
There was also a $5 note – unremarkable in itself until it was discovered that the unique serial number had been used as a “token” to verify a transaction in the murky world of meth-dealing.
And in the motel wardrobe, police discovered 1kg of methamphetamine.
The street value of meth fluctuates according to supply and demand and regional variations. However, at the time of Porter’s arrest a gram was worth on average about $400, putting the value of the amount in Porter’s possession at more than $400,000.
Court documents say it was packaged in a way that suggested a professional “wholesale and high-level” drug-dealer was involved.
The true scale of the drug ring has not been revealed in those documents, but some of the messages on Porter’s phones suggested that he and some associates had picked up the kilo of meth from a supplier in Tūrangi.
The next person up in the chain of command was someone going by the code name “~Rebel_Sports”.
He was the person Porter was supposed to deliver the kilo of meth to. He was the one on the other end of the encrypted cellphone communications and the one who was issuing instructions.
These factors – and Porter’s own place in the hierarchy of the syndicate – became points of contention when he was sentenced in the Rotorua District Court in May this year, and when he appealed his sentence to the High Court.
Sentencing in meth-dealing cases is based partly on the convicted person’s particular role in any criminal enterprise, as determined by case law.
Porter was sent to prison for seven years and four months by District Court Judge Tony Snell, for possessing methamphetamine for supply.
However, he argued in the High Court that this was excessive, partly because he had a “limited role” in the drug ring.
He also had a background of addiction and trauma, and a pre-sentence report described him as “gullible and naïve”.
However, in the High Court, Justice Matthew Muir said calling Porter a “simple courier”, as his counsel had argued, would be understating his role.
Justice Muir said Porter was “fully integrated” into the delivery of the drugs and “integral to the transaction” of the kilo of meth, providing the serial number on the $5 note and clearly having some wider awareness of the enterprise in which he was engaged.
Text messages suggested that he had also facilitated an introduction to a meth manufacturer, or “cook”, hoping for bigger returns later on.
“What is apparent from the message exchanges ... is that ~Rebel_Sports regarded Mr Porter as a ‘partner’ or at least a putative partner,” Justice Muir said.
“Nor did ~Rebel_Sports consider himself, by virtue of seniority in the relevant structure, as in a position to give the defendant unequivocal instruction and to expect adherence.”
He said this was indicated by an exchange between Porter and ~Rebel_Sports on the evening before the crash, when Porter said he intended to go to Taupō to visit his prison buddies.
“~Rebel_Sports response was to strongly counsel against it but clearly, he did not consider he had the authority to forbid it,” the judge said.
“And although the defendant’s response was an initial ‘good call mate’ he decided nevertheless to go to Taupo, in the course of which he had the accident which ultimately resulted in the mutual enterprise being discovered,” Justice Muir said.
He declined Porter’s appeal against sentence.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
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