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.

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.

A Whanganui man has been jailed for leading a methamphetamine manufacturing operation in a remote wool shed.

A police operation uncovered the laboratory up the Whanganui River along with 19.3kg of meth with a wholesale value of around $3.5 million.

Peter Allan Graham was sentenced to 13 years and five months’ imprisonment when he appeared in the Whanganui District Court on October 24 after admitting charges related to the Whanganui meth operation, and a separate Christchurch incident involving conspiring to manufacture meth.

The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to five charges including manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing methamphetamine for supply, participating in an organised criminal group, escaping police custody and conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine.

Four men appeared in Whanganui District Court on separate dates, they were facing a raft of charges relating to the manufacture of 19.3kg of methamphetamine in Whanganui.

It was Himatjit Singh Kahlon’s generous and helping nature that saw him fooled into unknowingly helping a trusted friend with the methamphetamine operation behind the meth-laced beer can which killed an innocent man, a court has heard.

Aiden Sagala, 21, died in Auckland City Hospital in March 2023 after sipping from a can containing liquid meth, which he believed was beer given to him by Kahlon, who was his boss at Fonterra.

Kahlon, 41, was subsequently charged with manslaughter and possession of meth and cocaine for supply.

He denies the charges and is on trial before Justice Kiri Tahana at the Auckland High Court.

Himatjit Singh Kahlon is facing trial at the Auckland High Court, regarding the death of Aiden Sagala in 2023, after he drank beer laced with meth.DAVID WHITE / STUFF

Defence lawyer Emma Priest said in her closing remarks on Thursday that there was a power imbalance between Kahlon and his friend, who previously pleaded guilty to importing a large quantity of meth and ephedrine, hidden in beer cans, coconut water and kombucha bottles.