A Whakatāne District Court judge has urged a Kawerau man to think about his children and cut ties with the Head Hunters gang.

Keelin Kotene Ruru, 34,  was appearing for sentence on Wednesday on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

The court heard that Ruru had written a letter of remorse in which he expressed disappointment in himself at the decisions he had made, and the impact they had had on his family.

In referring to Ruru’s criminal history, which included convictions for violence, burglaries and driving offences, Judge Paul Geoghegan asked: “Where were the thoughts of your family then?”

“I rasise that point because ... judges get these sorts of letters all the time and they all say the same thing – ‘this time I’ve learned’.

“What about doing something really good for your family and getting out [of the gang],” he said.

“We know the realities of being involved in gangs ... we know children brought up in gang life end up repeating the same errors that their parents have made.

“If you are really interested in doing something for your children ... get out of the gang so they never have to look at a gang patch again.

“That’s what I’m interested in – actions rather than words.”

He urged Ruru to think hard about distancing himself, or cutting off all involvement with the Head Hunters gang of which he is a member, but acknowledged this would not be easy.

The “mystery” of what Ruru was doing with a loaded pistol remained unsolved despite queries from the judge.

Ruru’s lawyer said the pistol was on the passenger seat of his vehicle and Ruru took accountability for it, prompting the judge to comment it “remains a mystery”.

The court heard about Ruru’s positive work within the community, and his engagement with Tūhoe Hauora.

Judge Geoghegan said there could be no condoning of people who wanted to carry firearms in the community without appropriate authority, but he was satisfied by “very fine margins” that a home detention sentence was appropriate.

Taking into account various factors, including the 10 months’ Ruru had spent in custody, Judge Geoghegan sentenced him to six months and three weeks of home detention.

Bail on robbery charge

A 20-year-old Kawerau woman was remanded without plea when she appeared on a charge of aggravated robbery.

Omaio-Mihirawhiti Keete Purewa Gage-Williams is jointly charged with the offending in which she, along with co-offenders, is alleged to have robbed a person of two hats, a scooter engine flap, scooter key and T-shirt on February 7, while armed with a knife.

She was remanded on bail to reappear on March 25 for plea.

Judge Geoghegan warned her the charge was “very serious” and to adhere to her bail conditions, which included a night-time curfew, and not to contact her co-offenders.

Good behaviour bond

In sentencing Waiotahe man Peter Sidney Low on charges of dangerous driving and assault, Judge Geoghegan took into consideration the impact a traumatic brain injury has on his ability to understand situations and regulate his emotional responses.

His lawyer, Steve Franklin, said that since suffering the injury in 2022, Low, 57, had experienced many difficulties.

“He doesn’t always understand situations as best he could and is also not able to regulate as well as he would like.”

On this occasion, Low was at the Awakeri shops late at night with a companion who was a significant support person in his life.

She was upset with him and wanted to hitchhike to Rotorua, so went to the side of the road. She was dressed in black and Low did not consider it safe for her to hitchhike.

However, Mr Franklin said he realised his reaction was overbearing.

Judge Geoghegan declined a request for a protection order and sentenced Low to come up if called upon within 12 months.

“If you have an ongoing relationship you need to keep your hands off,” he warned Low. “If something happens in the next 12 months, you can be called back and sentenced on this.”

Remand to Tauranga

Aubrey King Sinclair Wineera has been granted bail on charges of wilful damage and burglary.

The Thornton man pleaded guilty to one charge of wilful damage, and denied a further charge of wilful damage and burglary.

All charges relate to an incident that occurred in Tauranga on January 20.

On all charges, he was remanded to appear in the Tauranga District Court on April 4.

Arrest after curfew breach

Kadence Moana was readmitted to bail following a week in custody that came about after he was 20 minutes late returning home from visiting his mother in hospital on January 22.

His lawyer, Rebecca Plunket, took issue with the arrest given Moana had been in court on February 4 – when he was remanded to April for case review – then on February 6 he was arrested for the bail curfew breach that predated that appearance and allegedly occurred on January 22.

Moana, 21, of Otakiri, faces a mix of police and Crown charges including driving dangerously, burglary with a weapon, assault with a weapon, wounding with intent to injure, unlawfully carrying a firearm, intentional damage, recieving and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.

Moana, who appeared by audio visual link, confirmed he had been visiting his mother in Tauranga Hospital.

Judge Geoghegan said he was not going to certify the breach of bail.

“We could have a hearing, but it seems a waste of time in the circumstances.”

EM bail refused

Judge Geoghegan refused an application for Tommy Turoa Rangitakatu to be admitted to electronically monitored bail at a residential rehabilitation facility.

The 45-year-old Te Teko man is in custody awaiting sentence on charges of burlgary, unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle and wilful damage relating to an incident on January 3.

The judge said he was not going to grant electronically monitored bail but did not discount Rangitakatu being sentenced to home detention to be served at the Grace Foundation.

He is due to be sentenced on March 4.

Wounding with intent

Britney Rose Dahm entered not guilty pleas to three charges of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

The  25-year-old Kawerau woman is jointly charged with three others, including Anaru Nikorima Te Rire, 25, of Kawerau, who also appeared in court on Wednesday.

The charges arise from an incident in Te Teko on October 18 last year and relate to three victims.

Both defendants were remanded to February 18 for case review, with Dahm’s attendance excused at the hearing.

Threats result in prison

An Ōpōtiki man who threatened to burn a house down has been sentenced to seven months in prison after waiving his right to a pre-sentence report.

Max Gleeson, 30, had previously pleaded not guilty to intimidation, assaulting police and breaching his court release conditions.

He had denied a charge of threatening to kill, but changed that plea to guilty.

His lawyer, Natasha Hartigan, acknowledged the seriousness of Gleeson’s threats but said they were threats only, and were not taken any further. They occurred when he was intoxicated, which although not a defence, provided some context as to why the offending occurred.

In sentencing, Judge Geoghegan outlined the events that led to the charges.

He said Gleeson had been released from prison on October 29 with conditions that included not to drink alcohol.

On January 1, he was drinking during the evening and texting one of the tenants of the property he was living in. He said he was going to come around and burn the house down. When another person looked over the fence, he said he was going to smash their head in. He then smashed windows.

In the process of being arrested, he kicked a police officer on the leg.

Reparation ordered

Buddy Popata was setenced to 150 hours’ community work and ordered to pay reparation of $4485 after being convicted of intentional damage.

The charge arose after the victim drove into his property and then went out again, causing Popata’s partner, who was alone there at the time, to feel concerned.

Lawyer Jonathan Kay said Popata’s partner raised the matter with him, and he took steps to address it.

These steps were “totally unreasonable”, Judge Geoghegan said.

“There can be no excuse for what you did; reasonable people do not act in this way.”

Threats follow relationship breakdown

After a relationship with his neighbour ended badly, Nicholas Hill reacted by threatening to kill them and burn their house down.

The 50-year-old Rotoma man appeared for sentence on charges or threatening behaviour and speaking threateningly.

Judge Geoghegan said the victim had been home with her son and daughter on October 11.

Hill was outside and told the son that he was going to kill his mother and burn the house down. He repeated the threat and continued expressing obscenities.

Police attended and heard him make the threats a subsequent time.

“No-one was injured but this is the sort of situation that must have been very frightening,” the judge said in sentencing him to 80 hours of community work.

Positive rehab report

A Tūhoe Hauora counsellor presented a positive report on Christopher Tewhanataihere Hiwarau, who was appearing for sentence on charges of breaching a protection order, fighting in a public place, drink driving and displaying gang insignia.

The counsellor told Judge Geoghegan the 36-year-old Kawerau man had done nine rehabilitative counselling sessions and planned to continue with his rehabilitation through both Tūhoe Hauora and Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau.

Lawyer Natasha Hartigan said the pre-sentence report had lots of positive aspects, with Hiwarau showing insight into his offending and remorse. He had a full-time job, was actively involved with his culture and was taking steps to address the underlining causes of his offending.

In relation to the offending, the court heard that on October 18, Hiwarau was with the complainant and another person in a vehicle, driving on River Road in Kawerau.

An argument broke out between the complainant and the third person, which resulted in Hiwarau stopping the vehicle and pulling that person out of the car and punching him twice. He then struck out at the complainant.

He drove the car to an address and told her to get out, but she refused, so he drove to the Kawerau Police Station where he was found to have consumed alcohol and charged.

Meanwhile, the complainant struck his vehicle with an axe handle multiple times.

Judge Geoghegan said it was an unusual situation and the complainant might have “given as good as she got”.

On December 13, Hiwarau was driving while wearing a gang T-shirt.

On this charge and a charge of fighting in a public place, he was convicted and discharged. On the drink driving charge he was fined $500 with court costs and disqualified from driving for six months.

For the breach of protection order, he was sentenced to three months’ home detention.

Reports on fitness to plead

Whakatāne man Troy Liam Green, 41, has been further remanded in custody while two reports are prepared to determine his ability to plead and stand trial on charges of breaching a protection order and breaching his home detention sentence.

Judge Geoghegan said he had a report from the forensic nurse that indicated issues around Green’s fitness to plead and stand trial.

Before the case could go any further, he needed to be satisfied of Green’s fitness in this respect.

He was further remanded in custody to appear on February 26, although the reports were unlikely to have been done by then.