Massive paua bust convictions in doubt

Hundreds of convictions involving people arrested in undercover Fisheries Ministry paua sale operations since 1996 could be overturned following a High Court decision involving a major Wellington paua poaching bust.

High Court judge Ailsa Duffy issued a May 18 decision which found the law was so poorly worded it did not allow penalties to be imposed if illegal paua had been purchased from undercover fisheries officers.

Justice Duffy has recommended the law be rewritten.

"This is another occasion where the court has found that a drafting mistake in the Fisheries Act has had the result of making the enforcement of the offence provisions in the act ineffective," Justice Duffy said.

The case involved a Manukau District Court conviction of Vietnamese woman Thin Thi Vu for aiding and encouraging Huong Ly to purchase paua from an undercover fisheries officer operating under the assumed name of Brett Stevens.

On May 20, 2008, Ms Vu was present when Mr Ly purchased paua from Mr Stevens at a service station on East Tamaki Rd in Auckland.

Her conviction and sentence of nine months' home detention and 250 hours' community work was overturned by Justice Duffy on appeal.

Justice Duffy said the transaction entered into by Mr Stevens and Mr Ly was, under the law as written, exempt from penalties being imposed.

"The act must be seen to permit the Crown, and those who deal with the Crown to engage in such transactions," Justice Duffy said.

Early consideration needed to be given to clarifying the law on the issue, she said.

Chief legal adviser Scott Gallacher said the ministry had lodged an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley would not comment on the decision.

Auckland barrister Paul Heaslip and fishing industry lawyer Mike Sullivan anticipated there would be hundreds of people who may be able to have their convictions overturned.

Mr Heaslip said there were at least 60 people still going through court processes following Operation Paid, the operation which resulted in Ms Vu's district court conviction.

There had been hundreds of others convicted in similar circumstances since the Fisheries Act was introduced in 1996, Mr Heaslip said.

Mr Sullivan said if other appeals were successful they might involve cases where the Crown would have to repay fines and return boats and vehicles confiscated in transactions with the Crown under the penalty provisions of the act.

Operation Paid involved 130 fishery officers and 70 police conducting a series of early morning raids in Wellington, Hastings, Opotiki and Auckland on May 27, 2008.

The raids resulted in the arrest and prosecution of about 60 people on 300 alleged breaches of the Fisheries Act 1996. "Mr Stevens" bought nine tonnes of illegal paua – about 36,000 individual paua – from divers operating illegally near Wellington between May 2007 and May 2008. He sold the paua to people who marketed it nationally and internationally.

- © Fairfax NZ News