Matt and Ciara appeared at Auckland District Court for a pre-trial challenge to a search warrant executed at their client, OW’s home.
The Police attended OW’s address to locate a suspect, AB on the run who they believed was residing at OW’s address. The Police entered the house on suspicion the suspect was present – albeit, he wasn’t – and instead, found a small quantity of meth they believed belonged to OW.
At the hearing, three Police officers were called to give evidence and were cross-examined by Matt. They admitted that OW explained that AB had stayed there before and provided details of AB’s work address.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge decided the search warrant was lawfully executed in terms of the invocation of the powers under both s 7 and s 20 of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.
A Notice of Appeal has been filed with the Court of Appeal against this ruling, we are now awaiting allocation of a hearing date.