Insurance fraud and firearms offences

A former top sportsman and television presenter has been sentenced to nine months’ home detention on firearms charges and insurance fraud.

Matua Parkinson, 49, appeared for sentence in the Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday, having previously pleaded guilty to obtaining by deception, providing a false statement, five counts of unlawfully possessing firearms and two counts of possession of a firearm.

Parkinson, had admitted travelling from his Tauranga home to two Auckland Gun City stores, where he paid almost $11,000 in cash for five Alfa Carbines in June 2022.

Parkinson had a firearms licence but passed the guns on to an unlicensed person.

The Alfa Carbines were not recovered by police.

He later reported the firearms stolen, claiming insurance for his entire gun safe, which he was paid out for.

Parkinson appeared before Judge Louis Bidois who had previously provided a sentencing indication in the Tauranga court.

Judge Bidois told the court Parkinson was a first offender and had since repaid the insurance company and completed some voluntary community work.

Crown lawyer Tobias Tane said the victim was seeking no further reparation.

Charges sent back to Tauranga

Richard Mcauley has had two of his three charges returned to the Tauranga court following pleas of not guilty.

He has denied charges of threatening to kill and presenting a firearm, and been remanded to appear at Tauranga District Court on November 25. The charges relate to offending in Tauranga.

Mcauley also pleaded not guilty to a Whakatāne charge of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and was remanded to reappear in the Whakatāne court on January 10.

Judge Bidois denied an application for electronically monitored bail.

Threats to burn down mother’s home

A Rūātoki man has been sentenced to prison after breaching a protection order by threatening to burn down his mother's house because she mistakenly threw out his friend’s ashes.

At the time of the offending, Katiana Thrupp, 31, was on a suspended sentence to come up if called upon.

The court heard that Thrupp’s mother had thrown out a box of gang regalia, not realising it also contained a container of his friend’s ashes.

In retaliation, Thrupp threatened to burn her house.

“I can’t explain to the whānau where he is; she threw him out,” Thrupp said.

Thrupp read a letter of remorse to the court.

“To my mum, sorry for the psychological abuse I have caused you over the years. I won’t be contacting you anymore. My wife and I are moving to Wellington so you will have your space,” he said.

Judge Bidois said Thrupp’s mother wrote in a victim impact statement she was exhausted from all the bullying.

Thrupp was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment.

Possession of drugs

A woman has been fined for possessing Class A and Class B drugs.

Ashley Poole was convicted of possession of a Class A drug, and of a Class B drug.

Her lawyer, Steve Franklin, said the situation was a “lesson learned” for Poole.

“She is never going to get involved in something like this again,” he said.

He handed up letters of support to Judge Bidois from Poole’s whānau.

The judge told Poole to receive the counselling she needed and ordered her to pay a $400 fine for each conviction, plus court costs.

Assault with vehicle, twice

A man has been remanded for plea on charges of assault using a vehicle.

The 37-year-old, who has interim name suppression, is charged with two counts of assault with a blunt instrument, namely a vehicle. The charges relate to two victims.

He is also charged with wilful damage of a Toyota Hiace van belonging to Hertz Whakatāne.

The man was remanded on bail until November 13 for plea.

“Blame your mates” – judge

A man has had his bail revoked after not fronting for a bail check.

Kahu Kahika was on bail while facing charges of assaulting with intent to injure, theft from a car, threatening to kill, escaping police custody, failing to stop when followed by police, reckless driving, receiving property valued over $1000 and possession of an offensive weapon.

He told Judge Bidois his electronically monitored ankle bracelet had been changed four times and claimed he had not breached his bail.

He was arrested after police were denied access to his address by other occupants for a period.

Judge Bidois revoked Kahika’s bail, and said he would have to find a new address if he wanted to be readmitted.

“You can blame your mates for that,” Judge Bidois said.

Bail granted

A Whakatāne man has been granted bail while he waits for a legal aid application to be processed.

Tom Hunt, 28, is charged with assaulting a person by stabbing, assaulting a person with a blunt instrument, assault on a person in a family relationship and intentional damage of property he has no interest in.

Judge Bidois granted the defendant bail and told him he could not consume drugs or alcohol as a part of his bail conditions.

“Why drugs?” Hunt asked the judge.

“They’re illegal, to start with, and there is a higher risk of re-offending on bail if people consume drugs and alcohol,” Judge Bidois said.

Threatened cousin with knife

A Whakatāne man has received a suspended sentence after confronting his cousin.

The offending happened after Keanu Rossiter, 25, discovered his cousin had been in his room, and some of his property was missing.

Rossiter followed his cousin outside to confront him about the missing property.

He was charged with behaving threateningly after a knife was produced during the confrontation.

His lawyer, Lisa Ebbers, told Judge Bidois the knife had fallen out of his pocket on the driveway of the property.

“He accepts he took the wrong approach by having a knife in his pocket,” she said.

Judge Bidois said he understood why Rossiter went to confront his cousin, but a knife was produced in a manner of some sort.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said.

Rossiter was ordered to come up if called upon for six months.

Remanded without plea

A Whakatāne woman has been remanded without plea after an alleged drug-induced series of offending.

Ngamare Maaka, 23, has been charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, assaulting a person with a blunt instrument, driving in a dangerous manner, assaulting police, resisting police, threatening to kill and refusing an officer’s request to give blood.

The charges relate to Maaka allegedly taking a complainant’s car and hitting them with it.

She was remanded in custody until November 20.

Tenth excess breath alcohol charge

A Matahi woman awaiting sentence on her 10^th drink driving charge has been given until February to find a home detention address.

Esther Peratiaki, 58, previously pleaded guilty to charges of driving with excess breath alcohol and driving while disqualified.

Her lawyer, Rebecca Plunket, told the court Peratiaki wished to vacate her guilty plea and transfer her judgement to a marae.

“To vacate a guilty plea, you need good grounds,” Judge Bidois said. “Wanting to transfer to a marae is not good grounds, so your request is denied.”

A woman in the gallery supporting Peratiaki asked to speak on her behalf.

Judge Bidois denied the request, but the woman continued to speak, blaming the court for Peratiaki’s offending.

She was escorted from the court room by security and police.

Judge Bidois told Peratiaki she would be receiving a sentence of imprisonment or home detention.

“We’ve given you supervision, but you continue to drink,” he said.

“We don’t like to send people to jail. Do you want one final chance to find an alternative address for home detention?”

Peratiaki said she wanted to find an address and was remanded until February 5.

“Do not drink and drive,” Judge Bidois told her.