Dunedin man who told court he needed to travel to attend grandmother's tangi, actually went to gang summit to be patched

The Otago Daily Times reports Patrick Folimatama was on bail for drug-dealing offences in October last year when he asked that his night time curfew be waived so he could attend the funeral in the Bay of Islands.

Police opposed the request and it was declined - but Folimatama went anyway.

When police tried to verify his whereabouts they discovered there was no tangi- Folimatama was really at a five-day Tribesmen motorcycle gang conference in Auckland, during which he received his gang patch.

He's now been jailed for three years.