CROWN WANTS DRUG DEALER'S MOTORCYCLE

A drug-dealer who shot dead one of a gang of intruders trying to steal his
cannabis could have his prized motorcycle confiscated.

Bryan Edward Melrose, aged 32, was sentenced at the start of this month to
2 1/2 years in jail for cannabis and firearm offences.

Melrose shot dead 47-year-old Robert Oppert at Helensville last year.

A murder charge was thrown out by a High Court judge in March following an
application by defence counsel Christopher Harder that Melrose was acting
in self-defence or in the defence of another.

The Crown has now filed an application in the High Court at Auckland
seeking a pecuniary penalty order of $53,351 under the Proceeds of Crime
legislation.

It says the money represented unexplained income that came from Melrose's
drug-dealing.

A confiscation order is sought for a 1998 Triumph Daytona motorcycle that
the Crown says is under the effective control of Melrose, despite being
registered in the name of Wendy Anne Melrose.

Justice David Baragwanath put the hearing off till next month.