Invercargill judge jails cannabis dealer who handled 16kg
Judge Mark Williams sentenced Jade-Cooper Mackenzie in the Invercargill District Court on cannabis dealing and other drug and assault charges, rejecting his claim that he sold only to fund his own addiction. Mackenzie had handled 16kg of cannabis, held $35,000 in cash and had two people working for him.
🇳🇿 Invercargill District Court, Invercargill, Southland · New Zealand
Judge Mark Williams sentenced Jade-Cooper Mackenzie in the Invercargill District
Court on charges of cannabis dealing, selling methamphetamine, selling cocaine
and selling ecstasy, along with assault, possession of a taser and breaching a
community work sentence.[1]
Mackenzie had handled 16kg of cannabis, held $35,000 in cash and had two people
working for him, but argued he sold only to fund his own addiction.[1]The
judge rejected that explanation, holding Mackenzie to account for the dealing
rather than accepting addiction as the driver.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The readable text of the article gives no separate date for the sentencing; 5 November 2026, the date shown on the page, is used.
The captured text does not state the length of the prison term, though the headline says Mackenzie was jailed.
The cannabis figure is the amount he was said to have handled, not a weighed seizure, and no separate weight per search warrant is published.
The methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy charges and the assault, taser and community work offences explain the mixed case and are excluded from cannabis figures.
The $35,000 in cash is as published and no police valuation for the whole case is given.
No second account of the sentencing was found; the Press report is the only source.
The Press page used a file photo of a customer-order video frame rather than a picture of this sentencing, so no event photo is listed.
Christchurch District Court Judge Quentin Hix sentenced 54-year-old Damon Redshaw without prison after police found 234 grams of cannabis in his crashed vehicle, along with a sawn-off .22 rifle, ammunition and a methamphetamine vape.
Ruben Flutey, 34, was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison at the Wellington District Court after being convicted on 18 charges, including supplying methamphetamine, cannabis, ecstasy and ketamine. Police seized nearly $200,000 of assets including drugs, cash, a classic car, motorbikes and jet skis, and four more associates were due to be sentenced in November and December.
Arrested 1Charged 1Prison 10 years and five months
A young man was convicted in the Cook Islands criminal High Court on 26 February 2026 for possessing 0.20 grams of cannabis, after hiring a lawyer, gathering character references and attending a men's counselling centre. A letter to Cook Islands News argued the amount was below the 250-milligram THC threshold in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004.
Alexander Kerr, 20, was jailed for two years and three months in Napier District Court after admitting he caused the death of his friend Wade Crosbie, 19, and seriously injured another passenger while driving with almost twice the high-risk level of THC in his blood. The judge said drivers who kill someone while impaired should expect prison, and disqualified Kerr for five years.
Charged 1Convicted 1Sentenced 1Prison 2 years and 3 months
