Angel’s ‘little babies’ paid income rather than meth
A senior Hells Angels member says firewood and french bulldogs, which he described as ‘‘little babies’’, helped to account for money police say he actually made selling methamphetamine.
Andrew Sisson spent much of yesterday in the witness box in the Palmerston North District Court, telling a jury how he made money and his lack of knowledge about a meth ring he allegedly supplied.
The Crown says Sisson was the wholesale supplier of meth for Daron Gilmore, who has already pleaded guilty to supplying the drug in Manawatū in 2020 after being busted during Operation Buckle.
Gilmore, a member of Hells Angels’ Central chapter, took multiple trips to Auckland and surrounding areas in 2020.
The Crown says they were trips to get meth from Sisson, backed up with text message data and Gilmore not being subtle in his text messages about what he was up to.
Another man, Scott James Allan, is also on trial, charged with cooking meth for Gilmore in 2020.
The trial has heard Sisson is the Hells Angels Nomads chapter president.
He said he had been a member of the ‘‘club’’ for 40 years and knew Gilmore, considering him a close enough friend to invite him to a Hells Angels motorcycle run across the Philippines.
He communicated with Gilmore throughout 2020, arranging a deal to buy a sidecar motorcycle and telling him he could pop in for a visit.
But he never arranged meetings or exchanged meth, he said.
Crown prosecutor Deborah Davies pointed out Sisson and Gilmore sometimes talked on the phone, with Gilmore then sending messages to people saying he needed certain things done.
Many of those messages involved Gilmore trying to get a ute off someone, making reference to people dying if things were not sorted out.
Sisson said he knew nothing of Gilmore’s dealings, believing the messages were more down to toxic relationships than anything else.
Much of his evidence focused on his finances to counter evidence from a forensic accountant who earlier told the trial there were big gaps between the money he spent and how much went into his accounts.
He worked as a tattooist at House of Pain and had other ways of making money.
He was shown photos taken from his phone of litters of french bulldogs – he called one group ‘‘five of our little babies’’ – which he bred with his partner Vicki. ‘‘I would sell each of them for an average of $4500,’’ he said.
He took payment in cash.
‘‘I’m still spending some cash now from puppies [sold] earlier this year.’’
He also sold firewood, also for cash, while he sometimes sold cattle farmed on the lifestyle block he lived on.
The trial continues.
The Crown says Sisson was the wholesale supplier of meth for Daron Gilmore, who has already pleaded guilty to supplying the drug in Manawatū in 2020 after being busted during Operation Buckle.