The sister of Aiden Sagala says her brother became agitated and “turned blue” when he collapsed at home after unknowingly consuming a meth-laced can of beer.

The trial of Himatjit Singh Kahlon, 40, accused of the manslaughter of Sagala, 21, in March last year is under way at the High Court in Auckland.

Kahlon has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, possessing methamphetamine for supply and possessing cocaine for supply between January 7 and March 14, 2023.

The Crown told the court Kahlon was Sagala’s workmate at Fonterra who had given him several free beers which were branded as “Honey Bear House Bear”.

Angela Sagala, sister of Aiden Sagala, was called as a witness in the trial of Himatjit Singh Kahlon who has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Photo / Supplied

Sagala’s sister, Angela Sagala, was not at home on March 2, 2023, the evening her brother collapsed after drinking from one of the cans while at home in Auckland’s One Tree Hill.

She told the court her partner Billy Anelusi - who was with her brother the time - phoned her to say Aiden had become agitated.

“He called me, and I could hear my brother in the background screaming, calling out my mum’s name,” she told the court.

“I sped through a lot of red lights” to get home, she said.

Once home, Angela, a physician at North Shore Hospital, said Sagala was on the floor and Anelusi was trying to calm him down. “He was really agitated and in a fit”

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She said an ambulance was called four or five times before it arrived more than an hour after first being called.

“My brother turned blue. I knew he had taken something, or it was an overdose,” Angela Sagala told the court.

Angela began CPR on her brother.

‘Like he was possessed’

Aiden Sagala died after drinking beer contaminated with methamphetamine. picture supplied

Anelusi told the court Sagala ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth after trying the beer and returned to ask his brother-in-law, “do beers taste salty?”

Anelusi said they should not and tried the can Sagala was drinking from.

“My first reaction was to spit it out. It had a salty, chemical taste. I brushed my teeth two or three times. It took a minute or two to get rid of the taste,” he said.

Sagala had a shower and when he came out Anelusi said he appeared upset.

“He came storming out looking at us and said, I’m about to die,” he told the court.

“He looked like he was about to turn into a statue.”

Sagala then collapsed and fell to the floor.

Anelusi told the court Kahlon came to visit him at his home when Aiden was in hospital to try and retrieve the remaining beers from his house.

”It was strange. He messaged asking if he could come over to talk. He drove into the driveway and was saying he felt guilty about something which I still didn’t understand,” he said.

Anelusi told the court he asked him to stay calm, and Kahlon responded asked “do you still have the beers.”

”He didn’t come over to talk about Aiden. He came over for those beers,” he said.

Meth level ‘off the charts’

Aiden Sagala of Auckland died after drinking beer allegedly contaminated with methamphetamine. Photo / supplied

The methamphetamine level in Sagala’s body when he died of an overdose after consuming the drug from the laced beer can was “off the charts”, according to Crown lawyer Pip McNabb.

The Crown said Sagala, an innocent party in an alleged drug importation ring, was given the cans by the defendant. Some cans did contain actual beer.

However, on the evening of March 2, 2023, when Sagala cracked open a can he told his brother-in-law Anelusi the contents “tasted salty”.

Anelusi tried the beer and “spat it out” because it had a chemical taste, according to McNabb.

Sagala later suffered a seizure and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

Five days later, on March 7, he died from what the Crown today said was a “significant” methamphetamine overdose.

The meth levels were “off the charts” according to McNabb.

The Crown alleges Kahlon’s fingerprints were later found on several items inside an industrial unit on Ryan Place in Manukau, where police found thousands of cans.

McNabb said Kahlon tried to get rid of the “worthless” cans that didn’t contain methamphetamine by giving them to friends and family.

Sagala, who worked at Fonterra with the defendant, was given several cans wrapped in plastic.

The Crown’s case is that Kahlon “did not take reasonable care or precaution” to ensure the cans didn’t contain methamphetamine.

“He failed to discharge his duty and is criminally responsible” for Sagala’s death, McNabb told the court.

A ‘community-minded man’

Cans of the Honey Bear House Beer, some of which were laced with meth, were seized by police from a warehouse on Ryan Pl, Manukau. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Kahlon’s lawyer, Emma Priest, told the court her client was a “community-minded man” who had “no idea” methamphetamine was in the cans provided to Sagala.

She said Kahlon, also known as Jimmy Kahlon, was exploited by another man, who has admitted drugs charges in relation to the importation scheme which saw thousands of the cans imported into New Zealand.

Priest claimed Kahlon was taken advantage of by “one of the very worst”.

Priest said her client was a family man who worked at Fonterra as a team leader and always wanted to help others.

“Jimmy Kahlon’s blind faith in people meant he had no idea what [the co-accused] had pulled him into, and had no idea meth was in the Honey Bear that killed his workmate,” she said.

Sagala’s death was a “terrible accident with the most tragic of outcomes”, she said.

Sagala’s death sparked Operation Lavender, a wider investigation into an alleged methamphetamine importation operation, as well as a warning to the public not to consume cans labelled Honey Bear House Beer – packaged in a distinctive red and blue aluminium can with imagery of a bear and a maple leaf.

Sagala was innocent, and police said he had no role in the drug importation.

In the course of the investigation, police reported seizing 747kg of methamphetamine in Manukau. The street value was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Police seized dozens of the Honey Bear House Beer cans from a Manukau unit as part of their investigation.

The trial is expected to run for three weeks, and the Crown is expected to call 48 witnesses.