The Star: October 22, 2020

The Star Thursday October 22 2020
14
NEWS
• By Kurt Bayer
A CHRISTCHURCH builder
snared in the South Island’s
biggest-ever P bust has lost a
legal bid to slash his jail time.
Michael Harrison Cooper, 33,
was jailed for 12 years and four
months for his role in importing
nearly 40kg of methamphetamine
worth $24 million from
Mexico.
Cooper, along with another
Christchurch man, Jonathan
Seal, 27, and freight worker
Simote Vea, 38, were caught during
a joint police and customs
operation which saw details
leaked by a corrupt Auckland
cop, Vili Taukolo.
But after he was sentenced at
the High Court in Christchurch,
Cooper contested his sentence at
the Court of Appeal. His lawyer,
Pip Hall QC, pointed to a presentence
report which recorded
Cooper’s “unstable, neglectful
and abusive childhood.”
Hall claimed the sentencing
judge should have given Cooper
credit – and reduced his overall
jail time – for those childhood
occurrences which had
contributed to poor emotional
development that had “informed
the quality of Mr Cooper’s
decision-making and perception
of the world.”
He argued that an allowance
to reflect Cooper’s poor family
background and rehabilitative
potential should have been given.
However, after a Court of Appeal
hearing in July, the judges threw
out the appeal.
“We have not been persuaded
that there should be a discount
for the considerations raised in
the [pre-sentence] report,” they
concluded.
While they noted Cooper’s
“unfortunate early childhood
experiences,” he was
subsequently able to function
as a contributing member of
society. He completed his high
school education achieving
NCEA level 2, went on to study
computing at a polytechnic in
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Builder loses appeal over $24m meth bust
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JAIL TIME: Jonathan Seal, Michael Harrison Cooper
and Simote Vea were sentenced at the High
Court in Christchurch for their roles in importing
methamphetamine.
Christchurch, and although he
suffered addiction to drugs and
alcohol for a period, he overcame
that.
The appeal judges also said
while Cooper was convicted of
assault in 2005 and 2008, his
only other offending was a single
charge of driving with excess
breath alcohol.
“This is not the criminal history
of someone whose childhood
experiences have apparently resulted
in a propensity to offend,”
they said in a new judgement
released today.
And in relation to his rehabilitative
to say that Mr Cooper has the
potential to make something of
his life, as his past achievements
indicate. Mr Cooper should take
what opportunities there are
in the prison environment to
improve his ability to succeed on
release. The absence of a minimum
term should encourage
him to do what is necessary to
secure release on parole.”
The High Court in Christchurch
earlier heard drugs hidden
in a shipment of safety lights
landed at Christchurch Airport
from Mexico on November 1,
2017. Officers found 20 separate
mine, totalling 39.7kg.
Search warrants were executed
at a number of addresses in
Christchurch and in Auckland
after a two-week joint police and
Customs operation.
In December last year, Cooper,
Seal and Vea received hefty jail
sentences for their roles in the
drug smuggling – with fatherof-four
Vea sentenced to 15 years
and seven months imprisonment
with a minimum non-parole
period of seven-and-a-half years,
and Seal and Cooper each jailed
for 12 years and four months,
with no minimum non-parole
potential, they concluded:
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