Former Warriors player Manu Vatuvei sent to jail for importing methamphetamine

Former rugby league star Manu Vatuvei has been sentenced to three years and seven months in jail for importing methamphetamine.

Meanwhile, Vatuvei’s brother Lopini Mafi has been sentenced to seven years and two months behind bars for his involvement as the New Zealand head of the “unsophisticated” drug ring.t Court on Wednesday where Judge Jonathan Moses said the pair had contributed to the methamphetamine problem in New Zealand and their actions needed to be denounced.

Judge Moses accepted Vatuvei became involved in the drug ring after a sequence of unfortunate life events.

“Your final legacy in the community does not need to be defined from what happened today.”

Vatuvei was once the pride of New Zealand rugby league, playing 226 games for the Warriors, 29 tests for the Kiwis and two more for Mate Ma’a Tonga.

But on Wednesday, the court heard Vatuvei was left in a dark place after his marriage breakdown and forced retirement from professional sport due to injuries.

Vatuvei’s lawyer, Vivienne Feyen, submitted the former league legend had suffered a “calamity of events” within 18 months after the loss of his career.

The guidance and support he’d had at the Warriors was no longer there and Vatuvei turned to alcohol and drugs to mask the difficulties in his life at the time, the court heard.

“He was ill-equipped to make those fundamental decisions,” Feyen said.

Vatuvei’s loyalty to his brother was also a factor which led to the offending.

Feyen submitted Vatuvei was a role model and was “genuinely and deeply remorseful” for his actions.

Crown prosecutor Jessica Pridgeon accepted Vatuvei had taken an enormous fall from grace, but said his and his brother’s offending was serious.

“Through their actions in importing methamphetamine into New Zealand … they’ve allowed harm to spill into the lives of other New Zealanders.”