A Dunedin drug dealer’s dogged persistence became his undoing, a court has heard.
Misifosa Tapusoa, 29, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to 13 charges.
Judge Hermann Retzlaff jailed the defendant for two years, but it is understood he will be released soon because of the time he has already spent behind bars.
The court heard that on August 31, 2023, Tapusoa provided the North Dunedin address of his former home to an Auckland associate.
That person sent a package — addressed to the fictitious "Oliver Charles" — containing up to $18,000 of the class-C drug ketamine.
Tapusoa arrived at the house at noon the next day "in an agitated state" asking about the parcel.
But he was not prompt enough.
A resident had already opened the consignment several hours earlier and, suspecting it contained drugs, took it to the Dunedin Central police station.
They told Tapusoa what had happened, but he continued to text the person.
A couple of hours later, the defendant returned to the home, even more ruffled than before.
According to court documents, he went back a third time at 5pm and was told the package was with police if he wanted to retrieve it.
Though inadvisable, he tried.
Instead of fronting up himself, Tapusoa sent a female associate to the station where they had already discovered the 60g of ketamine inside the package.
A few weeks later they caught up with the defendant.
He was released on bail and, in June the following year, Tapusoa came unstuck again.
While attending a function at a Dunedin rugby club, the defendant was drinking and using MDMA (in breach of his bail) when he began arguing with his partner.
Tapusoa tried to leave in the woman’s car, but she held on to the door, the court heard.
He got out of the vehicle and pushed her to the ground.
When police attended, the victim told officers Tapusoa was storing a firearm at their home.
At the address, they found a .44 lever-action rifle — a contravention of a previous protection order against the defendant.
Judge Retzlaff said the firearms charge was the most serious and though analysis of Tapusoa’s phone showed he had been selling drugs, the quantities were not large and the sales infrequent.
"Addiction is the clear underlying driver for this offending and your spiralling lifestyle," he said.
He also noted Tapusoa had experienced some upheaval, leaving Samoa for Australia before being sent to New Zealand and being estranged from his family. References were provided to the court on the defendant’s behalf and the judge said he had support in the community.
It would be up to Tapusoa to "turn the corner", he said.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz , Court reporter
