A man sentenced to life for murder in the gunning-down of a man in the Napier CBD 28 years ago has been sentenced to jail for a second time for drugs offences committed while on parole.
Released on parole for the first time in 2004, Luke Emmett Needham was recalled and then sentenced to three years and three months' jail in 2012 for possessing methamphetamine and cannabis for supply. The charges resulted from a police raid on his Taradale home, in which police found 15.8g of methamphetamine, 304g of cannabis, 39 pipes for the use of drugs, and more than $120,000 in cash.
Again released on parole, and now aged 54 and with a residential address in southern Hawke's Bay, according to court documents, he was arrested, charged and again recalled from parole after more police raids which netted about 2g of methamphetamine, a block of cannabis resin and about 20g of cannabis head and plant.
Needham appeared in Napier District Court on Wednesday, via audio-visual link from prison, pleading guilty through counsel Nicola Graham to charges of possessing methamphetamine, cannabis, cannabis resin and utensils for the use of cannabis.
Judge Bridget Mackintosh sentenced Needham to two months' jail, taking into account upcoming parole procedures.
