Judge Stephen Bonnar ordered a sentence of two years and seven months’ imprisonment.
Police executed search warrants at two West Auckland properties on November 2, 2023, turning up guns, ammunition and drugs – as well as a meth lab on Don Buck Rd, Massey. Photo / NZ Police
But prosecutors also asked for the gun prohibition order – a law enforcement tool that allows police to stop and search subjects for guns at any time without probable cause for up to 10 years after their release from prison.
A law change that went into effect in March, ushered in by the coalition Government as part of a crackdown on gangs, widened the eligibility criteria for such orders with the hope of seeing them imposed more often.
To impose one, a judge has to determine that the offender would pose a risk to public safety without it.
Police investigate a methamphetamine clan lab in Massey, West Auckland, following a raid in November 2023 that led to the arrest of Simon McCaulay. Photo / Hayden Woodward
In McCaulay’s case, the judge noted, it was the fourth time he had been sentenced for a combination gun and meth-related charges.
Defence lawyer Emma Priest argued against the order, emphasising the “significant inroads into various rights and freedoms” it would erode for her client, according to court documents. She noted her client has said the gun, dating back to the 1950s, was used for pig hunting.
But Judge Bonnar was not persuaded.
“The Courts have repeatedly said that the combination of unlawful possession of firearms or ammunition in connection with drug offending gives rise to serious concerns as to public safety,” he replied.
A restricted semi-automatic weapon was found in the wardrobe of Simon McCaulay’s bedroom. Photo / NZ Police
Priest re-emphasised her argument during a recent appeal hearing before Justice Pheroze Jagose, suggesting that the imposition of the gun order had been manifestly excessive.
She took issue with the assertion that the latest sentencing represented a fourth time in which guns and drugs offending was combined. The offending was distinct, and so the risk to public safety should have been assessed as lower, she argued.
But the High Court judge also was not convinced.
“The safety of anyone coming onto the property is put at risk by reason of that combination, which illustrates the availability to Mr McCaulay of a dangerous response to any threat to his unlawful operation on the property…” Justice Jagose said.
He dismissed the appeal, noting that there is no right to bear arms in New Zealand.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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