A jury trial involving three Crips gang members accused of contributing to the murder of a South Auckland pensioner four years ago has ended without a verdict after almost a month.

Justice David Johnstone discharged the jury late yesterday afternoon after jurors indicated for the second time in as many days they could not reach a consensus on the charges against Lasalosi Vaitohi, 33, Ethan “Crave” Jessop, 25, and Daziea “Aggro” Huia, 21.

They had been deliberating since Thursday last week for a total of about 22 hours.

The deadlock marked the second time a trial for the trio has ended without resolution. In 2023, Justice Johnstone aborted a trial on the same charges after one day for reasons that remain suppressed.

The next trial date is not expected to be decided until next month.

A young man who was beaten to death inside an Auckland bar without provocation was a naturally talented musician with an infectious smile and a knack for bringing his people together, his family told the man’s killer today as they stood before him in the High Court at Auckland.

“We may have failed our son because we taught our children to love all people,” Reverend Dr Matagi Vilitama said during his victim impact statement at the murder sentencing of Christopher Tean Salt. “Perhaps if we had taught him to be cautious and suspicious of strangers, he would still be alive today.”

A CCTV camera inside the game room at Richardson’s Bar and Restaurant in Mt Roskill was recording on the night of August 31, 2023 as Salt, 36, violently turned on new acquaintance Tofimua Matagi – blindsiding the gregarious darts opponent with a surprise punch that knocked him to the ground before a “soccer”-like kick to the face and four head stomps with full force.

A 75-year-old South Auckland rugby league stalwart who was fatally gunned down on the doorstep of his home three-and-a-half years ago had been in the process of trying to shoo off a Crips 23 gang member who was there to target his grandson, jurors were told today as the trial began for a trio accused of murder.

Peter Rasmussen bled to death in the kitchen of his Ōtāhuhu home on a Sunday evening in August 2021, before he could reach his landline phone to call for help.

“What had he done to deserve this?” Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said during his opening address today. “I suggest absolutely nothing.”

Authorities allege Ethan Jessop, 24, shot Rasmussen in the leg with a recently acquired shotgun he nicknamed “Big Bad Beth”, while co-defendant Daziea Leslie Huia, 21, had arranged for a car to be used in the ambush and had participated in other planning. Both men sat in the High Court at Auckland dock today as the trial got under way following several days of delays that saw the selection of two different jury panels.

Defence lawyers say they are doing what they can, to give their clients the best chance of a fair sentence following cuts to funding for background and cultural reports, but it is taking its toll. Under Section 27 of the Sentencing Act an offender can ask the court to hear their background, the way that background may have related to the offence, any efforts to resolve the offending and what further support could be available to help prevent further offending.

A Fonterra manager who gave a young employee a slab of imported beer contaminated with a deadly dose of concentrated liquid methamphetamine has been sentenced to 21 years in prison, as the victim’s family described a “nightmare that never ends” in court.

Himatjit “Jimmy” Kahlon, 42, was found guilty by jurors in the High Court at Auckland last October of manslaughter and possession of methamphetamine for supply.

Aiden Sagala, 21, died on March 7, 2023, when his heart failed from a huge meth overdose – drugs he unknowingly consumed after they were imported in beer cans and stashed in a rented warehouse in Manukau.

In the High Court at Auckland today, Justice Kiri Tahana sentenced Kahlon to 21 years in prison for manslaughter and the possession of meth for supply. A minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years was applied.

An Air New Zealand employee who was “responsible for a crew of corrupt baggage handlers” in a syndicate importing methamphetamine has been sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail.

Matangikolo Piukana was prosecuted in connection with three importations of meth from Malaysia in June and July 2021.

He pleaded guilty on representative charges of importing meth and conspiracy to import the drug, but insisted the amounts alleged by authorities were incorrect.

While the Crown prosecution described him as a “logistical organiser”, the defence argued he was simply a “messenger” for the criminal syndicate importing methamphetamine into New Zealand.

Today, Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith concluded his position in the scheme was at the “higher end of significant but below leading” and that the drugs would have caused significant harm to communities.

The family of Connor Cole Boyd who died after he was run over by a ute driven by a young man are “shocked and devastated” to learn he is set to be paroled in January.

It’s been nearly three years since a night of escalating tensions among a group of friends ended in tragedy. Boyd had jumped onto the runner board of a ute driven by William Grace, with his then-girlfriend Kaiya Shute sat behind him and grabbing Boyd through the window before he fell under the wheel.

Grace and Shute were jailed earlier this year, and Grace appeared before the Parole Board on Thursday for the first time.

His lawyer, Emma Priest, told the board Grace was aware it was unusual to be seeking early release from prison. But the Parole Board granted Grace parole.

Prominent criminal lawyer Emma Priest has joined the ranks of leading lawyers on LawFuel’s Power List as a result of both her work as an effective advocate and an effective legal educator.

Emma Priest’s two-decade journey has been marked by versatility and a career as a criminal lawyer, a job she loves as she recently wrote – notching up over 100 jury trials and appellate cases involving violence, sexual offenses, and complex drug crimes.

• Christopher Tean Salt told jurors at his murder trial that he used full force to kick Tofimua Matagi in the head and stomp on him four times.

• He said he thought Matagi was a 501 refuge and that he had a gun, neither of which turned out to be true.

• Prosecutors countered Salt’s testimony with CCTV of the attack, describing his explanation as “nonsense”.

A murder defendant who blindsided an unsuspecting darts opponent with a punch to the head inside a Mt Roskill bar before kicking the man’s face and stomping on his head four times has told a jury his intent that night had initially been to serve as a peacemaker.

But Christopher Tean Salt, 36, acknowledged his tactic switched from pacifism to a burst of sudden, extreme violence. It came, he claimed, after a succession of faux pas during the dart game in which the new acquaintance first tried to buy drugs from him on credit, then suggested he could set Salt up with a drug supplier, then seemed to seek advice on how to rob the bar before the final insult: threatening Salt’s life.

A young man with previously undiagnosed Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and an intellectual disability “fell through the cracks” in prison and went on to shank four people while inside two Auckland jails.

Sione Tupoumalohi, 29, first spent time inside an adult jail as a 13-year-old in Tonga. Once returning to New Zealand, he has not spent more than a year outside since he was 15, his lawyer told the court on Wednesday.

While a neuropsychologist’s report in 2011 indicated he may have FASD, it went undiagnosed until September of this year. He also has probable ADHD, a traumatic brain injury and an intellectual disability. All these meant he finds it extremely hard to stop and think before acting out, the court heard.

On Wednesday, Tupoumalohi was sentenced to six years imprisonment after he previously admitted four charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Justice Rebecca Edwards said this has to be served on top of the nine year sentence he’s already serving for previous offending.