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Lower Hutt man Sunia To’ofohe’s meth stash leads to 14-year prison sentence
A man was found with enough methamphetamine stashed in his bedroom to reportedly supply the Wellington region with more than two months’ worth of the drug.
The stockpile was so large that Sunia Mano To’ofohe, a Comanchero gang member, failed to convince a judge it was to feed his own addiction.
It was discovered after To’ofohe was stopped by police at a Levin service station in May 2023, driving back from Auckland.
The 45-year-old was unaware he was the subject of Operation Elusive, which investigated the supply of methamphetamine in Wellington.
Searching To’ofohe’s Holden Commodore and later the bedroom at his Lower Hutt flat, police found 11kg of methamphetamine, $547,000 cash, a Ruger rifle and 57 rounds of ammunition. Police also found cocaine, GBL, 1,4-Butanediol, LSD, oxycodone and cannabis.
Scales, a money counter, plastic bags and methamphetamine pipes were additionally retrieved from the property.
At his trial in February, the jury heard To’ofohe’s bedroom was so crammed, it took police all night to search it, with extra staff called in to help.
To’ofohe was convicted of 14 charges, including possessing methamphetamine, cocaine, oxycodone, LSD, GBL and 1,4-Butanediol for supply, possession of cannabis for sale, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and supplying methamphetamine.
On Thursday, To’ofohe was sentenced in the High Court at Wellington by Justice Cheryl Gwyn.
She said police estimated the 11kg of methamphetamine found in To’ofohe’s bedroom would have supplied the Wellington region for 9.5 weeks.
Sunia Mano To’ofohe, pictured at sentencing in the High Court at Wellington, was estimated by police to have possessed 24.1kg of methamphetamine at one point. Photo: Mark Mitchell / NZME
The judge said police also estimated that at one point, To’ohohe had possessed 24.1kg of the drug, which his lawyer Keith Jefferies didn’t dispute.
To’ofohe maintained he was unjustly charged and convicted, and claimed he was holding the drugs for someone else.
In sentencing, Justice Gwyn said she had to decide what role To’ofohe played in the operation.
Crown prosecutor Tim Bain submitted To’ofohe had a leading role, noting the sheer scale of the methamphetamine and drugs involved went well beyond feeding a personal drug habit.
There was a clear expectation of profit, with To’ofohe texting about how much money he was making. But Bain said To’ofohe’s plans were never realised, because after he had paid off a million-dollar debt, police had intervened before he could start making a profit.
Encrypted messages found on To’ofohe’s phones showed he was able to supply drugs, without demanding immediate payment, Bain said.
And there was clearly a financial benefit, with designer sneakers and bags found in his bedroom. A forensic analysis of To’ofohe’s spending showed he spent $386,000 on online gambling while unemployed, Bain said.
But Jefferies argued there was no conclusive evidence his client had a leading role, with no evidence of a commercial operation and the encrypted messages were to his client’s girlfriends and friends.
Jefferies said his client had a gambling problem, which had spiralled out of control.
To’ofohe kept the drugs in an unlocked room in a flat he shared with others and the assets he had weren’t significant for a man of his age.
Justice Gwyn found To’ohohe had a significant, but not a leading, role in the operation.
But she didn’t accept To’ofohe’s claims he was holding the drugs for someone else. Given the quantities of drugs and money involved, as well as the equipment police had seized, it was clearly a commercial operation, she said.
Justice Gwyn said although the structure of the operation wasn’t clear, there was no evidence this was a gang drug-dealing operation run by the Comancheros. While she acknowledged it was a large-scale operation, it wasn’t particularly sophisticated.
Turning to the issue of To’ofohe’s addiction, Justice Gwyn said she was persuaded by the alcohol and drug report that To’ofohe had a drug addiction.
The court heard To’ofohe had been working but quit his job just before Covid to move to Auckland. But the Covid lockdowns had left him stranded in Hamilton and once they’d been lifted, he’d returned to Wellington.
In the year leading up to his arrest, he felt depressed, socially isolated and had become reliant on methamphetamine.
He said he was using 1-2g a day, requiring $2000 a week to fund his addiction.
But Justice Gwyn was sceptical about To’ofohe’s claims around methamphetamine use, noting the amount police seized went well beyond feeding an individual’s addiction.
She accepted that while there was evidence of addiction, it was not the sole motivation for To’ofohe’s offending and she granted a 5 percent discount for it.
She also allowed a 10 discount for personal factors, well short of the 35 percent Jefferies had asked for.
Adopting a starting point of 18 years’ jail and adding six months for the firearm charge, and after taking into account personal factors and the time To’ofohe had spent on electronically monitored bail, Justice Gwyn reached an end sentence of 14 years and 10 months’ jail.
She declined to impose a minimum period of imprisonment, which the Crown had sought.
The judge said To’ofohe was at the stage in his drug recovery journey that, with the right support, he might be able to put himself on a different path. She was also mindful of his young children and his desire to be a part of their lives.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
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The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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