Robert Lindsay Harper (aka Aitkenhead), 38, appeared in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday, where he was jailed for two years and four months on 10 drug charges and one of possessing an air gun.
The defendant had a long list of convictions but the majority spanned his late teens and early 20s and did not feature illicit substances.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said her client was dragged into the shady underworld when a friend introduced him to meth and his addiction devoured him.
‘‘This is a sad sentencing which reflects the abuse of methamphetamine and the slippery slope that can arise after that,’’ she said.
Long before Harper was identified, police launched an inquiry into the drug-trafficking of the Comancheros gang, dubbed Operation Avon.
From there, they discovered the nationwide flow of narcotics continued in the bottom half of the South Island, controlled primarily by one Christchurch man.
He cannot be named for legal reasons, but he became the focal point of ‘‘Operation Leith’’.
The man recruited 37-year-old Luke Maloney to be the link between Christchurch and Dunedin, repeatedly couriering large quantities of drugs down south and carting the cash proceeds back.
Harper, the court heard, had known Maloney for a decade and was brought in as a dealer.
His home was also used as a point for customers to pick up their goods, particularly when his handler was out of town.
Harper was a peripheral player but that all changed on May 2, 2024, when Maloney and another man were arrested on the forecourt of an Ashburton petrol station in a vehicle laden with drugs.
‘‘As the result of these arrests, roles of several participants within the enterprise shifted,’’ court documents said.
Harper — under some pressure, his lawyer said — took on the mantle previously held by Maloney and began making trips north.
Through June and July 2024, the defendant arranged sales of meth and cannabis but it was not long before police shut him down.
On August 19 that year, they executed a search warrant at Harper’s Brockville home, where they found 281g cannabis, utensils, a paper ‘‘tick list’’ recording drug sales and a police scanner.
He was bailed after appearing in court but within days officers were back at his house, where they seized methamphetamine.
Ms Saunderson-Warner said her client was a hands-on father of five, attending school camp and coaching junior rugby, and stressed a prison sentence would be particularly difficult for him and his children.
Justice Lisa Preston acknowledged that factor and noted Harper had expressed a determination to stay clean once he was out of jail.
The court heard he planned to live a ‘‘positive and constructive life’’ and establish himself as a role model for his children.
In March, Maloney was sentenced to six years and four months’ imprisonment.
