Life parolee Dean Wickliffe has been committed for trial on several drugs and firearms charges.
At the end of a depositions hearing in Tauranga District Court today, Wickliffe, 59, entered not guilty pleas.
He has been charged with two counts of possessing Butanediol (commonly known as party drug One4B), two of possessing prescription medicine Ketamine without reasonable excuse and one count each of possessing cannabis, a pistol (.45 Colt revolver) and an explosive (.45 calibre ammunition).
Ketamine is used legitimately by the medical profession and veterinarians and is also a precursor substance to the drug fantasy.
Five witnesses gave evidence at the hearing and written statements from seven others were handed up.
Wickliffe's lawyer, Peter Kaye, conceded there was a prima facie case to answer and asked for the earliest possible call-over date "for a number of reasons".
Community Magistrate Pat Oettli remanded Wickliffe in custody to the High Court at Rotorua on September 4 for a trial date to be set.
Wickliffe, who has spent the greater part of his life behind bars, was recalled to prison following a police raid on his home at Maketu near Te Puke during Operation Julia, a national cannabis recovery campaign.
Mt Maunganui police Constable Andrew Berntsen told of being part of a search team which focused on Wickliffe's Maketu home on the late afternoon of Saturday, March 8, this year.
He said a black fabric bag containing three butane torches, two sets of electric scales, several glass pipes, cigarette lighters, a pair of pliers and a knife were found in the first bedroom he searched.
Also located was a revolver-style Colt pistol in a black plastic bag. The pistol had a holster and was loaded with six rounds of ammunition.
In a box was a juice bottle containing a thick, clear liquid, along with a butane canister, a gas burner, and seven blister packs of morphine sulphate tablets.
The witness said that on top of bedside drawers in the main bedroom was a bag with two grams of cannabis plant material inside.
A set of digital scales was in a dresser drawer and a handbag in the wardrobe had three plastic "point" bags in a side pocket.
A third bedroom, used as a computer/gym room, revealed a computer hard drive on top of a table. Under the front left corner of the hard drive was a ziplock plastic bag holding two point bags of about 13 grams of white powder substance.
The court heard this was initially believed to be cocaine. Wickliffe told Detective Michael Fischer he thought it was "from the G family because that's what the guy who dropped it off is into."
No fingerprints could be found on the bottle of liquid which the accused admitted had been with the pistol in the black bag he had removed from a green Mazda Lantis car.
Wickliffe's partner of seven years, sickness beneficiary Dionne Chapman, also took the witness stand, looking frail and ill.
She told the court she suffered from a "lifelong, on-going condition" and had resumed chemotherapy treatment last week after the stress of "what has been going on with Dean" had made her very sick.
The pair had lived at the Maketu house for about six years and were home together when the search warrant was executed, said Ms Chapman.
When asked by a detective about the pistol, she told him she had never seen Wickliffe with a gun, although there was an air pistol in her bedroom drawer for scaring cats.
She did not know if her partner had cannabis at the address, but he had smoked some in the past "and he sometimes just puffs mine anyway".
The computer was Wickliffe's; he had bought it for $500 while he was in Paremoremo Prison. He was the only person who used it and had been "writing his book on it" until he stopped about five years ago.
Ms Chapman said she had no knowledge of the white powder or the clear liquid found by police.
The spare bedroom was used for storing things, including the bedding and other stuff for her four fox terrier dogs.
When she was excused from the witness stand, Ms Chapman walked toward the dock where Wickliffe was seated, nodding and smiling at her.
"I want to give you a kiss," she said. He stood, they kissed, she left the courtroom and the emotional-looking accused sat down again.
