A little clarification
I'm sure most of us have had friends killed in this game, and have a sense of how awful it is when it strikes those close to you. When a statistic becomes personal. I know Dave, and I know Morgan, who, as far as I know, hasn't actually been found yet. I don't know either of them well, certainly not close enough to be friends, but am reasonably familiar with them, and their recent legal problems.
I agree the situation looks pretty grim. This is a really sad situation. The family has been through some very, very tough times in the last couple of years. Dave and Morgan Saxton were jailed for what in many other countries would be considered illegal mining - aka picking up greenstone, the NZ version of jade, from West Coast beaches, mainly by helicopter, and selling it on the side. Not, in most countries, considered "theft", and certainly not, in most countries, something for which one might reasonably expect to be jailed for years. Against the law, nonetheless, whatever the morality of "illegal mining", "theft" (from the alleged owners of NZ minerals, ie the Maori people) or whatever one cares to call it.
It was a very, very political prosecution, with the South Islands wealthiest, most influential Maori tribe calling for Morgan and Dave's incarceration, and expressing satisfaction at the sentence, in what seemed to me to be a peculiarly vindictive manner. There is a large "free Dave and Morgan" movement, which raised a lot of money for the appeal against their sentence, which many, quite possibly most, people considered to be extraordinarily harsh. They are both out of prison, on bail, while the appeal is considered. I personally was appalled at the verdict, and I sincerely hope the appeal is successful, but I realise this is only my personal/political opinion, and others differ. In any case, Morgan is not, as far as I know, what most people would think of as a thief. Both the Saxtons performed a great deal of search and rescue work, helped a lot of people over the years, and, while presumably not being perfect (who is?), are very respected by a lot of New Zealanders. In common with many people who live on the very sparcely populated southern West Coast, they may, perhaps, have had a fairly casual relationship with some of the finer points of government regulation, but many of us have done far worse. Let he who is without sin, etc etc.
PLEASE don't let this thread deteriorate into name-calling. The Saxtons have been through enough, thieves, not-thieves, saints, sinners, whatever. Enough.