Kawerau man Whitiaua Toki Tarei has been handed a more than four-year prison sentence for his role in the aggravated robbery of a couple at their home last year.

Tarei, 38, appeared for sentencing before Judge Louis Bidois in the Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday on charges of aggravated robbery, burglary and breach of community work. Each charge related to separate offending.

The court heard that Tarei and two others went to the residential address on July 18, summoned the victims out of their bedroom and held them in the kitchen while making demands. One of the co-defendants was said to have been in possession of a tomahawk.

Crown prosecutor Tobias Taane said the aggravated robbery was an unprovoked attack that involved violence.

He said the defendants were members of the Mongrel Mob and although it was not a gang-related attack, they were wearing their patches during the offending, which he said heightened the level of intimidation.

Neither victim was gang affiliated, Mr Taane said.

Defence lawyer Caitlin Gentleman disagreed with the prosecutor’s assessment of the aggravating features.

“Just because gang members offended, doesn’t mean it is gang related.”

She said the defendants were socialising with the victims at the address earlier in the evening and she did not accept the submission that the patches raised the level of intimidation.

One of the co-defendants had been living in the house from time to time, so there was some right of access, she said.

Ms Gentleman also said the offending was opportunistic, not pre-meditated as the Crown suggested.

The group had left, gone to another venue and kept drinking, before returning.

The court heard Tarei’s involvement in the aggravated robbery was part of a broader sequence of events that had a significant impact on the two victims.

Judge Bidois ordered the victim impact statement not be read out in open court to avoid retraumatising the victims.

He said they were “dramatically affected” by the offending, including further offending that Tarei was not involved in.

All three men were also initially charged with rape and assault with a blunt instrument, but these were later withdrawn in relation to Tarei.

Judge Bidois said all the defendants made demands of the victims during the robbery, but Tarei’s involvement did not extend to the use of a tomahawk or the sexual assault.

He said Tarei had an offending history stretching back to 2003. In that time, he accumulated 54 convictions.

The judge said the offenders used stand over tactics as part of a group enterprise and they worked in concert because of their gang associations. All defendants demanded drugs, money and other property, eventually taking a cell phone.

He described their behaviour, including barking, as intimidatory gang-type behaviour.

The Crown accepted there was no forced entry involved, which Judge Bidois said was critical to consider in sentencing.

The judge assessed that there was modest planning involved, but there was not a high level of sophistication in the offending.

Tarei was unemployed, separated from his wife and a frequent methamphetamine user, Judge Bidois said.

The court heard that Tarei was working to turn his life around, including by addressing his addiction. He had previously applied to be bailed to a residential rehabilitation facility.

Tarei was sentenced to four years and three months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to pay $500 in reparations.

The sentence included punishment for the burglary charge, which related to Tarei entering the back office of a licensed premises and attempting to break into a safe, causing it to self-lock.

His existing community work sentence was cancelled.

Two co-defendants are still before the courts.

Elderly woman assaulted with chair

Te Pounamu Tawhai has been jailed for a charge of assault with a blunt instrument.

Judge Bidois said Tawhai and his partner were arguing when the victim, a neighbour, came over and attempted to calm things down.

Tawhai threw a plastic chair, which hit the elderly woman. He then punched her multiple times and pulled her hair, the judge said.

She suffered a cut to the face and a bump to her head.

“She was being a good Samaritan and got hit with a weapon for her efforts,” Judge Bidois said.

The judge acknowledged that Tawhai, 32, suffered a significant brain injury in 2013, which has caused regular seizures since. He said there was a link between the defendant’s inability to regulate his emotions and the offending.

But the judge said that Tawhai’s diminished capacity was tempered by the fact he was disinterested in getting help or engaging with Probation.

Tawhai was sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment. No release conditions were imposed, at the request of the probation service.

Woman ‘lost control’

A young mum losing custody of her children sparked a two-day period where she “lost self-control” and offended, according to the judge.

Whakatāne woman Ngamare Maaka, 24, was sentenced this week for a raft of charges including unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, assault with a blunt instrument (a car), driving dangerously, assaulting police, threatening a constable, refusing an officer’s request for blood, possession of an offensive weapon and driving with excess breath alcohol.

The bulk of the offending occurred in October. The drink driving happened in March.

Defence lawyer Lisa Ebbers said a pre-sentence report recommended a sentence of home detention, but she submitted that the least restrictive sentencing option was community detention.

She said Maaka’s demeanour had changed for the better across the course of the proceedings, and she was highly motivated by her children.

“She will do anything for them.”

Ms Ebbers said Maaka found the disconnect difficult as her children were not currently in her care.

Judge Bidois said the defendant had a traumatic upbringing in foster care and her children being uplifted likely brought it all back.

He noted that she wanted professional help to deal with her trauma.

He said that despite her upbringing, Maaka did not have a very long criminal history.

Maaka was sentenced to two months’ home detention and was disqualified from driving for six months, followed by a zero-alcohol licence condition.

No emotional harm reparations were ordered because Judge Bidois said Maaka did not have the ability to pay them.

EM bail granted

Kleon Tihi has been released from police custody on electronically monitored bail.

Tihi faces charges of reckless driving, burglary, intentional damage, two counts of contravening a protection order and two counts of wilful damage.

He was remanded to reappear in August.

Charge withdrawn

Police have withdrawn a charge of receiving stolen property laid against Tommy Rangitakatu.

The defendant appeared in court by audio-visual link this week, having denied the charge.

He sought bail, which the police opposed before withdrawing the charge.

Rangitakatu had completed a recent prison sentence, so the withdrawal of the charge meant he would be released the same day and be subject to release conditions.

He could be heard cheering in the prison booth.

Assault denied

Hano Wilson has pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with a blunt instrument.

He was granted bail and was remanded to appear for case review hearing in August.

Two assaulted by intoxicated woman

Te Kaha woman Moanaroa Park has been sentenced to community work for assaulting two people.

Judge Bidois said the assaults happened on Tuesday when Park, heavily intoxicated, wandered onto the victims’ property. He said they’d had issues with her previously.

In response to being confronted by one of the victims, Park swiped a camera out of his hand and punched him in the head.

When the second victim tried to intervene, Park punched her in the throat and chest.

Park pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault and was represented by duty lawyer David Pawson.

He said Park was currently on sentences of community work and intensive supervision, but the latter had not had time to kick in yet.

Judge Bidois sentenced Park to 120 hours of community work, cumulative to a sentence she received on May 29. He also ordered that she pay $200 in emotional harm reparations to each of the victims.

“Stay away from the booze, otherwise you’re going to get yourself in trouble and end up losing your liberty.”

Bail granted

Whakatāne man Jessy Tihi has been granted bail for a charge of possession of an offensive weapon.

Police allege he was in possession of a metal bar on Hotene Street on Sunday. Tihi has not pleaded to the charge.

He was remanded to reappear next month.

Kleptomaniac sentenced

Rūātoki woman Phaeton Taumata, a diagnosed kleptomaniac, has been sentenced to home detention.

Taumata, 43, received the sentence for multiple shoplifting charges ranging in value from less than $100 to $3500.

She pleaded guilty to charges relating to the theft of Farmlands jackets, Rebel Sport shoes and a Macpac backpack.

Police withdrew a charge alleging Taumata stole a vacuum valued at $1100 from Briscoes.

The shoplifting charge regarding shoplifting from Farmlands was amended to reflect that she was a party to the offending.

Defence lawyer Kylee O’Connor said there was common intention with the co-offender, Taumata’s partner, to enter the store but she was not the one to take the jackets. As a result, the reparations were to be split evenly between the defendants, with Taumata to pay $1750.

Ms O’Connor said Taumata had been seeking help, and she wanted to go to rehab.

She sought that $1000 in outstanding fines be converted to community work.

Judge Bidois said Taumata’s offending was a continuation of previous behaviour. He said she was impulsive and had a lack of consequential thinking, with addiction issues regarding dishonesty and a kleptomania diagnosis.

He sentenced her to 4.5 months’ home detention and 80 hours of community work for the remitted fines. Taumata was ordered to pay $3700 in reparations.

Trial date needed

Time was not able to be found this week to schedule a two-hour trial for Jayden Brown, whose attendance was excused.

The defendant has denied driving dangerously and two counts of contravening a protection order.

A nominal date was scheduled for next month, at which point the court registry will attempt again to schedule the trial.

Drink driver indefinitely disqualified

Tāneatua man Rikki Carlson-Gray has been sentenced for driving with a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit.

Carlson-Gray, 34, pleaded guilty this week to driving with excess blood alcohol, careless driving, sustained loss of traction and driving contrary to a zero-alcohol licence.

Charge sheets recorded the offending as happening on Pohutukawa Avenue on April 8.

Defence lawyer Rebecca Plunket said this was his third drink driving conviction since 2019.

Judge Bidois described Carlson-Gray as a recidivist drink driver who was caught with a blood alcohol level of 211 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrams.

“That’s as drunk as you can get.”

He said a deterrent sentence was required because offending of this nature put lives at risk.

The judge also noted that Carlson-Gray had not been before the courts on criminal matters since 2012 and other than the drink driving, his life was pretty much in order.

Carlson-Gray was sentenced to 240 hours’ community work, 12 months’ intensive supervision and indefinitely disqualified from driving.

Bail denied

Ōpōtiki man Hemirangi Kingi has been remanded in custody after he failed to appear for a full-day judge-alone trial scheduled on Monday to hear a charge of discharging a firearm with intent to intimidate.

Judge Bidois described the failure to appear as “a huge loss of judicial time.”

Kingi has also been charged with assault with a weapon, dangerous act with intent to injure, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and the burglary of two Auckland High Street shops.

Police opposed bail and Kingi was remanded in custody to appear by audio-visual link on July 17.