{"id":430953,"date":"2026-05-16T19:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430953\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:11:08","slug":"northland-property-among-524000-recovered-from-meth-offender-under-proceeds-of-crime-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430953\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland property among $524,000 recovered from meth offender under proceeds\u2011of\u2011crime law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Court documents show police relied on surveillance, intercepted communications and Piper\u2019s admissions to establish that he sourced ephedrine<\/a> and played a central role in producing between 3.3kg and 4kg of methamphetamine at clandestine laboratories <\/a>that associates ran.<\/p>\n

One batch was seized before it could be distributed. However, at a two\u2011day civil forfeiture hearing in the High Court at Auckland last November, Justice Laura O\u2019Gorman<\/a> ruled its value could still be counted. <\/p>\n

Justice O\u2019Gorman, in an online decision last month, listed the assets to be forfeited as: an investment property in Admiralty Drive, Haruru<\/a>, near Kerikeri; the proceeds from two Range Rovers; a launch named Stryka; more than $12,000 seized at Piper\u2019s arrest; and a $14,000 deposit paid towards a cancelled Jaguar purchase.<\/p>\n

Piper\u2019s domestic partner, Lisa May O\u2019Sullivan, was listed as an interested party. <\/p>\n

On their behalf, counsel argued the financial\u2011advantage calculation overstated Piper\u2019s role, claiming he acted mainly as a middleman, briefly held drugs for others and received only small quantities for personal use.<\/p>\n

But Justice O\u2019Gorman found Piper was closely involved in the manufacturing enterprise, understood yields and volumes, and exercised control over valuable drugs at multiple stages. <\/p>\n

The law was clear, she said, that participants in a joint criminal venture could be held liable for the full value of drugs produced, not just the portion they kept or sold.<\/p>\n

Piper and O\u2019Sullivan also sought relief from forfeiture on hardship grounds. They argued the Northland property had been bought years earlier and largely serviced through legitimate income and refinancing. <\/p>\n

The court was unconvinced. Justice O\u2019Gorman noted Piper\u2019s history of drug offending, prior forfeiture, and modest declared income.<\/p>\n

Explanations for vehicles and other assets were \u201cimplausible\u201d, the judge said. The couple were known to have lived in Auckland during some of the offending and the Haruru property was held as an investment rather than a home.<\/p>\n

The court rejected arguments that forfeiture should be limited because the property was in O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s name. It foundthe post\u2011arrest transfer of Piper\u2019s interest appeared designed to shield the asset from forfeiture. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s legitimate earnings \u2014 largely from work as a bus driver \u2014 could not account for the acquisition of high\u2011value assets, and for forfeiture purposes she was at least wilfully blind to Piper\u2019s offending, Justice O\u2019Gorman said.<\/p>\n

\"JusticeJustice Laura O’Gorman. <\/p>\n

The total estimated benefit of the offending was nearly $640,000. However, this was reduced to avoid double\u2011counting the amount recovered from Kakau. <\/p>\n

The court said the Act was deliberately written to reach beyond directly traceable criminal proceeds to ensure offenders did not retain any overall advantage.<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Court documents show police relied on surveillance, intercepted communications and Piper\u2019s admissions to establish that he sourced ephedrine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[220674,3471,19092,1558,6932,71,8454,2205,133523,8307,1428,1868,111,139,1067,69,17699,220675,814,8694,13109,213,34703,8238],"class_list":["post-430953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-220674","tag-among","tag-assets","tag-been","tag-cash","tag-from","tag-including","tag-involved","tag-kilos","tag-law","tag-manufacturing","tag-meth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-offender","tag-proceedsofcrime","tag-property","tag-recovered","tag-several","tag-sports","tag-stripped","tag-under"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430953","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=430953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}