On the evening of the night Justin McFarlane was beaten to death in his Elderslie home, the five found guilty of the crime drove to Palmerston, found a spot beneath a bridge and snorted crushed Ritalin tablets.
It was, the High Court heard during the McFarlane murder trial, one drug of choice, along with alcohol, of the four men found guilty of his murder, and the woman guilty as accessory after the fact.
The night that began in the most inauspicious circumstances, in a most inauspicious site, ended with Mr McFarlane's death, after multiple injuries to his head and face ended the life of the 35-year-old dairy worker and small-time drug dealer.
Crown counsel Lisa Preston said the '' brutal group attack'' had been coming since one of the four men sentenced yesterday, Robert Cummings, returned to Oamaru.
That led to Cummings, Steven Boskell, Ryan Geary-Smart and Jacob Geary-Smart ''asserting their dominance over what they saw as their patch or town''.
Ms Preston was talking about evidence heard at a court hearing late last year that found the four guilty of murder, and fellow offender Stephanie McCormack guilty as an accessory after the fact.
When Cummings was in prison, he sent a letter to the Geary-Smarts proposing they make money or get ''legless and end up killing someone''.
The court heard Cummings, Boskell and Ryan Geary-Smart, who last night spent their first night of an 18-year minimum sentence, and Jacob Geary Smart, who faces 17 years inside, were involved in violence and stand-over tactics in Oamaru from the time Cummings returned.
The trial heard of an incident in which Cummings and the Geary-Smarts visited Neville Wareham in Oamaru, who had, until a short time before, operated what he acknowledged was ''a bit of a tinny house''.
Ryan Geary-Smart did the talking, and said Mr Wareham was selling cannabis in ''their town''.
He wanted $2000 up front, after which they would supply his cannabis, and then take a cut from every transaction.
The money would give Mr Wareham ''protection''.
At one point Jacob Geary-Smart said: ''We own a gun now, and we're not scared to use it''.
Another incident explored at some length during the trial was a fight outside the Junction Fish Supply.
Timothy Van Delden, of Oamaru, gave evidence of Ryan Geary-Smart smashing the windows of his vehicle with a baseball bat, and later that day meeting the brothers at the fish and chip shop.
He said Ryan Geary-Smart jumped out of his car with a baseball bat, swung and broke his finger, before Jacob Geary-Smart punched him, resulting in a black eye and bleeding nose.
He was called a ''nark'' during the attack.
As Preston's fellow Crown council Andrew McRae summarised the period, the group slashed tyres, smashed car windows, extorted money, and targeted a member of the public.
They acquired a firearm, exacted revenge and assaulted people, amid drinking, drugs, and partying.
All that behaviour led to the events of September 11, 2013.
After picking Boskell up in Palmerston, the group returned to the Geary-Smart house.
Later that night, in what the Crown described as ''a drug and alcohol-fuelled plan to steal his cannabis and a motorbike'', the group set out through stormy weather for Mr McFarlane's home.
Evidence during the trial suggested Boskell and Cummings entered the house first, followed by the Geary-Smarts.
Mr McFarlane was tied up with an electrical cord and had his face covered in a sheet, and was beaten by the four using a fire poker, a golf club and a beer bottle, and also stomped on.
During the assault, Jacob Geary-Smart threw a television in Mr McFarlane's direction because he was ''looking at him''.
A postmortem revealed Mr McFarlane had 11 blunt-force injuries to his head, three fractures to his face and numerous other injuries, including shoe-print bruises on his back.
He was hit with such force the fire poker broke.
The attack escalated while he was in or near his La-Z-Boy chair and finished with him lying dead, or ''as good as dead'', near his kitchen, she said.
Forensic evidence showed he died from subdural haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage caused by the cumulative effect of many blunt-force injuries.
In the hours after the attack, the four, aided by McCormack, attempted to get rid of evidence which could link them to the crime.
But the court heard the armed offenders squad arrested Cummings at his Exe St home, and officers saw evidence of what had been a small fire in the garden.
They found what appeared to be part of a sole of a shoe, and part of a lace from a shoe at the burnt area.
Evidence from Mr McFarlane's body included a shoe print of concentric semicircle footprints on his back, shoulder blade and head - those prints came from a Nike Alphaballer shoe, like that worn by Boskell.
All defendants pleaded not guilty at the trial, but the evidence found was enough to convince the jury the opposite was the case.
Yesterday about noon, the four men and their female accomplice filed from the court to mocking yells from Mr McFarlane's family and friends.
They now have plenty of time to reflect on their actions.
