{"id":181703,"date":"2025-12-13T10:21:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T10:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/181703\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T10:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T10:21:22","slug":"west-aucklands-recidivist-meth-cook-simon-mccaulay-loses-appeal-over-gun-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/181703\/","title":{"rendered":"West Auckland\u2019s recidivist meth cook, Simon McCaulay, loses appeal over gun ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Stephen Bonnar<\/a> ordered a sentence of two years and seven months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice 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<\/p>\n

But prosecutors also asked for the gun prohibition order \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

To impose one, a judge has to determine that the offender would pose a risk to public safety without it. <\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice 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<\/p>\n

In McCaulay\u2019s case, the judge noted, it was the fourth time he had been sentenced for a combination gun and meth-related charges. <\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Emma Priest argued against the order, emphasising the \u201csignificant inroads into various rights and freedoms\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

But Judge Bonnar was not persuaded. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d he replied. <\/p>\n

\"AA restricted semi-automatic weapon was found in the wardrobe of Simon McCaulay’s bedroom. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

But the High Court judge also was not convinced. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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…\u201d Justice Jagose said. <\/p>\n

He dismissed the appeal, noting that there is no right to bear arms in New Zealand. <\/p>\n

Craig Kapitan<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judge Stephen Bonnar ordered a sentence of two years and seven months\u2019 imprisonment. Police executed search warrants at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6375,3952,1060,4194,17898,13731,16959,3606,76,11517,5836,115413,1868,13240,111,43,139,69,17699,29691,1523,8442,115415,19429,91929,115414,5763,6037,6382,3807,5977,102],"class_list":["post-181703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-appeal","tag-aucklands","tag-ban","tag-cook","tag-didnt","tag-dispute","tag-firearms","tag-gun","tag-issue","tag-loses","tag-lost","tag-mccaulay","tag-meth","tag-methamphetamine","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offender","tag-order","tag-over","tag-prison","tag-prohibition","tag-recidivist","tag-repeat","tag-restrictive","tag-sentence","tag-simon","tag-took","tag-west","tag-which","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}