From truck driver to drug dealer with fatal consequences

A synthetic cannabis dealer whose product ending up killing one of his buyers has been sentenced to community detention.

Tereapi Mataio appeared before Judge Gregory Hikaka in the New Plymouth District Court for sentence after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of dealing in controlled drugs.

Despite a troubled upbringing that saw him living on the streets by the age of 10 or 11 and being recruited by Black Power early in his life, the 58-year-old had not been before the courts for almost 20 years.

Instead, he had forged a living working as a truck driver and labourer until an arthritic knee meant he had to give up his job.

Desperate to look after his family, Mataio made contact with some former associates who supplied him with the synthetic cannabis to sell.

A police investigation found phone records of him selling about 35 bags of the drug between December 2020 and February 2021.

One of the sales would have serious consequences for two people who were hospitalised after consuming his product. One of them never made it out of hospital.

Details of the victim were not heard in court but Crown prosecutor Jacob Bourke said this case was the perfect example of the harm drug dealing, especially synthetic products, could have in the community.

Defence counsel Susan Hughes, QC, said it was evident by the large number of people in court that Mataio had strong family support.

She also said he was a committed father, hard-working and honest but had become desperate to support his children and had sought the help of former associates.

While the Crown had asked for a sentence of home detention, Hughes argued it would be far more beneficial to Mataio if he was given a community detention sentence.

That would enable him to seek medical treatment for his knee, get fit and get back to work.

Judge Hikaka agreed, sentencing him to six months community detention and nine months intensive supervision.