After hearing nine days of evidence, an 11-person jury took just over a day to reach its verdicts. It was the third jury to hear the case. A first trial in May 2014 ended with a hung jury on all counts, while a second trial was aborted after four days when the jury heard information deemed likely to be prejudicial to Slaimankhel's fair trial rights.
The trial centered on whether victim Marven Yacoub's account of being accosted at a Burger King by Paea and two unknown associates and taken to law office in Ponsonby against his will to swear a false statement to be used in Slaimankel's bail hearing the following day could be believed.
The jury heard that Law lured Mr Yacoub to Burger King Mangere on the understanding that he would sell him steroids. Law admitted to police he purchased a new phone sim card to help avoid detection. On the day of the kidnapping he sent Mr Yacoub a text pretending to be inside the Burger King toilets but he was in fact at home in Hamilton.
Slaimankhel arranged for Paea and his associates to kidnap Mr Yacoub from the Burger King and take him to the office of his lawyer Isaac Koya to swear a statement taking responsibility for 1048 green steroid fat burner pills found in the boot of his BMW during a police stop 10 days earlier.
Slaimankhel was under police surveillance when he met Mr Yacoub in the Sylvia Park car park to take possession of the pills.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the kidnapping, including the two unknown men taking up positions either side of Mr Yacoub and apparently parting their shirts to reveal gang insignia.
Mr Yacoub testified that Paea threatened to harm his family unless he did what he was told.
The defense contended the meeting was nothing more than an amicable meeting between friends and that Paea had driven Mr Yacoub to Ponsonby because he owed him $300, which he would be able to get from Slaimankhel, who still owed Mr Yacoub money for the steroid pills.
The defense painted Mr Yacoub as a liar and steroid dealer who had concocted his story to aid his chances of avoiding a criminal conviction after a raid on his house uncovered a cache of steroids in a shoe box.
Mr Yacoub's version of what happened at the law office was strongly rebutted by Mr Koya and another lawyer, Gary Gotlieb. Mr Yacoub testified that Slaimankhel had told him what to say in the statement while Paea continued to threaten him as Mr Koya typed on his computer. Slaimankhel and Paea had then hovered menacingly in the doorway while he signed the document in Mr Gotlieb's office.
Mr Koya testified that although it was against his normal practice he had allowed Slaimankhel and Paea to remain in the office. He had three times warned Slaimankhel to be quiet but Paea hadn't said a word and Mr Yacoub had made his statement willingly.
Mr Gotlieb said Mr Yacoub's claim that Mr Koya had been in his office while he swore the statement and that Slaimankhel and Paea had hovered in the doorway was wrong.
The door had been shut and only he and Mr Yacoub had been in his office. Mr Yacoub had appeared relaxed, Mr Gotlieb testified.
The jury heard text message evidence that showed how the kidnapping had been planned and executed. Text messages found on Paea's phone were particularly damning. Two days before the kidnapping he sent a text to an unknown associate that read: "I Got a job for us Monday... And if it works out well will get paid on the spot my uso.."
Another text sent from Paea's phone to an unknown associate while Mr Yacoub was at the law office said: "Soon we at the lawyers better pray to the almighty to keep us safe my uso.. Cause I'm starting to feel very funny about this now."
Later that evening, the court heard Paea sent a text to Slaimankhel as the pair apparently discussed whether Mr Yacoub would appear as instructed at Slaimankhel's bail hearing.
"Everything all goods," Paea texted.
"I think M will be there tomorrow because he knows that we now know his ins and outs and where he sleeps and the ones he loves will."
