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A father and son accused of stealing tonnes of protected greenstone will have to stand trial after a last-ditch effort to have the case thrown out failed.
Helicopter pilots David Saxton, 61, and his son, Morgan, 29, are said to have made more than $800,000 selling greenstone stolen from South Westland, and had 3.5 tonnes on their West Coast farm when police raided in 2004.
David Saxton faces three charges of theft and Morgan Saxton two charges, relating to a series of alleged thefts between 1995 and 2004. Two charges of money laundering related to the sale of greenstone have been withdrawn.
The pair claim they had a customary right to the greenstone, which the Crown says is a high-quality type found only on the remote Cascade Plateau in South Westland.
Court action against the pair arose after a major police investigation sparked by complaints from South Island iwi Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu. Rights to the greenstone, or pounamu, were vested in Ngai Tahu in 1997.
Central Otago helicopter pilot Harvey Hutton was jailed for 18 months last year and ordered to pay reparation of $300,000 after greenstone thefts valued at up to $1.6 million. He is appealing against the conviction.
Lawyers for the Saxtons this month asked Christchurch District Court judge Phil Moran to end the prosecutions because of a delay of 32 months between the men first being charged and their scheduled trial date on May 7.
Under the Bill of Rights, a person accused of a crime must be tried in the courts without "undue delay".
Lawyer Colin Withnall, QC, also argued that the case should be thrown out because of issues of evidence.
But in a decision delivered to the parties involved late last week, Judge Moran dismissed the applications and ordered the case to go to trial next month.
