He ordered a sentence of four years and one months\u2019 imprisonment, added to his earlier sentence of two years and four months.<\/p>\n
\u2018Punctuated by ineptitude\u2019<\/p>\n
It was far from the first time Lord had been chastised by a judge. <\/p>\n
He already had a 30-year resume of robberies and other offences in December 2014 when a Melbourne judge sentenced him to seven and a half years\u2019 imprisonment for a crime spree that started with a TAB heist described as having been \u201cpunctuated by ineptitude\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dwayne Micheal Lord, who was deported from Australia after a series of armed robberies, appears at Auckland District Court for sentencing in March 2026 after police reported finding an “arsenal” in his home. Photo \/ Jason Dorday.<\/p>\n
Armed with a small pick bar and mash hammer, Lord and a mate rushed the manager of the Mentone TAB outlet in June 2012 as she locked up around midnight – \u201cmanhandling her roughly\u201d before forcing her back inside and ordering her to open the safe. <\/p>\n
DNA eventually linked Lord to the crime after police found a roll of duct tape he had brought with him. CCTV showed him on the floor looking for the tape after it rolled into a dark corner. <\/p>\n
\u201cDeprived of that tape, you threatened to tie up the manager with some scotch tape you probably found when you trawled through the offices,\u201d Judge Frank Gucciardo noted at the 2014 sentencing. <\/p>\n
The bumbling duo sat around with the manager for 30 minutes after the first attempt to open the safe failed. When it finally did open and they found $70,000 inside, they quickly fled before realising neither of them had grabbed the loot. Lord smashed the front sliding doors to get back inside. <\/p>\n
\u2018Vile\u2019 and \u2018repulsive\u2019<\/p>\n
In a separate investigation later that year, police intercepted Lord\u2019s phone calls and found him to be selling both MDMA and methamphetamine. Police were still tailing him on Boxing Day when they watched him burglarise the home of a work acquaintance who was on holiday. The next day, police recorded him instructing another man as he committed yet another burglary. <\/p>\n
In another act that the judge described as both \u201cvile\u201d and \u201crepulsive\u201d, Lord directed others to burglarise his ex-partner\u2019s house, assuring them no one was home when in fact adults and children were sleeping inside and terrorised by the intrusion. <\/p>\n
Lord returned to a Melbourne courtroom in 2017, sentenced for the armed robbery and false imprisonment at another TAB in October 2012, just four months after the other robbery had taken place.<\/p>\n
Police found 13 firearms and a stolen vehicle at 501 deportee Dwayne Lord’s West Auckland home in December 2024 after they knocked on his door for an unrelated reason. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
That time he held an imitation gun to the manager as she left around 10pm, forcing her to disable the alarm and open the safe. He and another man made off with $76,000 cash that time. But he wasn\u2019t charged with that robbery until two years later, after his crime partner gave a full confession implicating them both. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis offending was consistent with your other criminal activities and another example of your violent and terrifying behaviour,\u201d Judge Clair Quin told him in 2017 as she ordered two-and-a-half years to be added to the end of the sentence he was already serving. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a serious and nasty instance of armed robbery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge noted that, although a permanent resident of Australia, he was likely to be deported upon release. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll of your family, connections and friends are in this country and you have no ties or links with New Zealand,\u201d she acknowledged. \u201cI accept the prospect of your deportation, having established your life in this country, will render your incarceration more burdensome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A blatant abuse\u2019<\/p>\n
At the time of his final Australian crime spree, Lord was running a mechanic shop with the hope of opening his own. Judges noted his previous good work history, \u201cwhen not interrupted by incarceration\u201d, in hotels that he owned and managed. <\/p>\n
\u201cFinancial management has been your downfall with some gambling problems, which has led to criminal conduct,\u201d Judge Gucciardo told him. <\/p>\n
Soon after his arrival in New Zealand, Lord got a job as a mechanic and office manager at Midas Onehunga. But it was through the job that, within several months, he started offending again, court documents state. <\/p>\n
Lord issued 78 warrants of fitness for customer cars between December 2022 and June 2023 while his boss – the only person authorised to do inspections – was overseas. <\/p>\n
Dwayne Lord appears in Auckland District Court in March 2026 for his second sentencing in eight months. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
On most occasions, he did not bother to check the vehicles, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi officials said, referring to his flippant attitude towards car safety as \u201ca blatant abuse of the system\u201d. <\/p>\n
Lord said in court that the certificates had been issued with his boss\u2019s blessing, but he conceded: \u201cObviously, I shouldn\u2019t have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that offending, he reckoned he was doing relatively well during his first 18 months in New Zealand until he \u201cran off the rails\u201d and started using drugs again. <\/p>\n
During a traffic stop in September 2024, police found 9.4 grams of methamphetamine in his car along with $1200 cash, electronic scales, glass pipes, empty zip lock bags and a drug ledger. <\/p>\n
Another traffic stop last March yielded more drugs. <\/p>\n
For illegally accessing the NZTA computer system, he faced a maximum sentence of two years. Now with the methamphetamine supply charge added, he faced up to life imprisonment. <\/p>\n
\u2018Significant concerns\u2019<\/p>\n
During his July sentencing, Lord asked the judge directly for mercy, and for another chance to \u201cget back on track\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just ask that you please consider I only have about 11 years of work life left,\u201d he explained. \u201cI want to work and build a little nest egg for retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer David Dickinson described his client as a low-level dealer who was offending to support his addiction. Lord had sought treatment while in prison awaiting sentencing, he said. <\/p>\n
But the only appropriate outcome was imprisonment when considering his lengthy criminal history and the fact he was already subject to parole-like Returning Offenders Order conditions when he committed the new string of crimes, Crown prosecutor Jared Lowyim argued. <\/p>\n
The judge agreed. <\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, if that [warrant of fitness] system is defeated or used fraudulently, there are significant public safety concerns,\u201d Judge Bonner said, allowing him a minor discount for background circumstances that included \u201ca degree of dislocation in this country\u201d. <\/p>\n
He ordered a sentence of two years and five months\u2019 imprisonment, but it was later reduced by one month on appeal. Lord\u2019s lawyer had sought a larger reduction, arguing that the six-month uplift the judge imposed for his warrant of fitness offending was excessive and should be halved. <\/p>\n
Auckland District Court Judge Stephen Bonnar. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was premeditated offending which was particularly damaging of trust and with implications for public safety,\u201d Auckland High Court Justice Jason McHerron responded, keeping the full uplift in tact. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is necessary to send a clear message to the vehicle testing and related motor vehicle industries that those who manipulate or abuse the vehicle inspection and certification system will be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guns under pillows<\/p>\n
However, Lord was cut a break as he appeared in court earlier this month. <\/p>\n
During the search of an Onehunga apartment where he was living in September 2024, police had found 15 bottles of liquid labelled \u201caloe vera moisturiser\u201d but suspected of containing an illegal substance. Investigators sent one bottle off for testing, confirming their suspicions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re clearly identical in appearance,\u201d Crown prosecutor lowyim told Judge Dawson, arguing that Lord should be sentenced on the basis he had 7.2 litres of GHB total rather than just one bottle. \u201cThe clear inference is they all contain the same drug.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the guns officers found in Dwayne Lord’s home after visiting him for another reason. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
That may well be the case, the judge responded. But he didn\u2019t budge. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t sentence on inference,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d be sentencing on an estimate based on a guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police arrived at Lord\u2019s new home in New Lynn in December 2024 after months of repeatedly breaching conditions he had been subject to, including having waited weeks to tell authorities he started working again as a mechanic and refusing at first to tell officers his new address.<\/p>\n
Such violations carry a maximum one-year sentence, but when police knocked on his door to speak with him they noticed numerous guns lying about and decided to investigate further.<\/p>\n
This gun with its barrel sawn off was found under a pillow in the Auckland home of 501 and former armed robbert Dwayne Lord. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Eleven guns were found in one bedroom, while two more sawn-off shotguns were found under a pillow in another room. One of the weapons was semi-automatic, meaning it would have been illegal even had Lord been licensed to own guns. <\/p>\n
Lord claimed he had been holding them for someone else for the past week. <\/p>\n
Also while at the house, police found a stolen car and a phone loaded with a social media app that he was obligated to report. <\/p>\n
Opportunities squandered<\/p>\n
Dickinson repeated his client\u2019s hard-luck deportation story to the new judge, noting that Lord had served the entirety of his last sentence in Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor a couple of years he was employed and working very hard,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had to start again when he was deported here, and he\u2019ll have to start again when he\u2019s released.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auckland District Court Judge Nevin Dawson. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n
The judge noted that there was no ammunition found in the house with the guns. But he also noted that Lord had been assessed as being a high risk of further offending and of causing harm to others.<\/p>\n
Despite Lord\u2019s expression of remorse, he continues to offend, Judge Dawson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have had many opportunities to change your lifestyle, but you haven\u2019t,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n