A child actor in one of New Zealand’s most iconic films was caught drug dealing, "to put food on the table".
Maakariini Puhata Butler, 27, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier admitting charges of possessing cannabis for supply, drink-driving and disorderly behaviour.
In 2010 the defendant played Murray in Taika Waititi’s breakthrough movie Boy, but last year after a family tragedy he found himself living in a van and dealing drugs to survive.
He passed, but officers smelled cannabis and searched the vehicle.
Forty-nine grams of cannabis were found, with an estimated street value of $500.
Butler was polite, co-operative and remorseful when he spoke to police and admitted he had been selling cannabis for a couple of weeks to "put food on the table".
On December 8, Butler was pulled over by police as he arrived at his Dunedin home, but when he got out of his vehicle, he was belligerent, walked away from police and refused to talk to them.
The defendant was worked up, pacing back and forth and yelling.
He screamed at police to arrest him, claiming he would fail a breath test.
Once arrested, he recorded a breath-alcohol level of 466mcg.
Later, Butler was taken to another address, where he was summonsed to court and suspended from driving for 28 days.
He started screaming again and became aggressive towards police.
This caused the defendant to be arrested again.
Judge Michael Turner had some sympathy for the defendant given he had experienced a recent tragedy.
"I understand that you were trying to look after your family... but engaging in illegal activity is not the right thing to do," Judge Michael Turner said.
The judge sentenced Butler to three months’ community detention and 12 months’ supervision.
He also disqualified the defendant from driving for six months and added a further three months’ community detention to his sentence in substitution of paying more than $7000 worth of fines.
Butler was the second Taika Waititi prodigy to come before the Dunedin court.
In 2017, award-winning child actor Rangituatata Maakotu Ngamoki, who starred in Two Cars, One Night, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
Ngamoki admitted drinking alcohol twice while subject to a sentence of intensive supervision, leaving Judge John Macdonald with "no other option" but to send him to prison.
