Man released after 150 days on remand

Judge Bill Lawson was unwilling to convict and discharge a Thornton man who had already spent 150 days in prison on remand when he appeared in the Whakatāne District Court for sentence on Wednesday.

Lawyer Leonard Hemi asked for the convict and discharge based on the time Aubrey King Sinclair Wineera, 38, had spent in custody on charges of wilful damage and being unlawfully in an enclosed yard.

Judge Lawson said judges often looked at defendants’ histories in sentencing and a convict and discharge could provide a distorted record, not accurately reflecting the seriousness of the offence.

Instead, he favoured a prison sentence/time served approach.

Hemi submitted such a sentence worked the other way in reflecting the seriousness of the offence.

“150 days is well and truly over the time one would reasonably have expected to spend in custody, and his history will be marked with a sentence of imprisonment.”

Judge Lawson said he did not think that would be a problem for Wineera with his history.

He sentenced him to one month in prison on each charge and ordered him to pay $450 for the windows he broke.

In January, Wineera had gone to a house in Tauranga uninvited and deliberately smashed the bedroom window. He later threw a metal object and smashed a front window.

“It is not the most serious offending, although you can imagine the victim was terrified not knowing how far you were going to take things; I expect intimidation was part of your thinking,” Judge Lawson said.

With Wineera having already served his sentence, he was released.

He is now on bail awaiting a judge alone trial on February 22 on charges of dangerous driving and failing to stop, which he denies.

Defendend “found” the car

Michael Te Pou has been sentenced to five months’ community detention on charges of receiving and shoplifting.

The two shoplifting charges relate to items taken from the Warehouse, which Te Pou admitted stealing by  pleading guilty, but at sentencing claimed he had paid for.

The receiving charge relates to a Mazda vehicle, which he was caught driving 10 days after it was stolen. He told police at the time that he had found the car and was going to return it.

Judge Lawson said Te Pou was someone who showed total disregard for the ownership of property.

“I don’t accept you found that car; it is difficult to establish that with your background.”

Caught on camera

Police were going through CCTV footage while investigating another case when they spotted Tuahiwi Tawhai and identified him as a disqualified driver.

The discovery resulted in Tawai notching up his seventh conviction for driving while disqualified.

Judge Lawson said Tawhai ran the risk of going to jail for such recidivist offending but there were factors that allowed him to step back from such a sentence.

Instead, he sentenced him to 60 hours’ community work, cummulative on his existing community work, and disqualified him from driving for one year.

His lawyer, Kylee O’Connor, said although Tawhai was on a wheel of disqualified driving offending, he did not want to make a Section 94 application that would allow a community-based sentence to be imposed in lieu of disqualification.

She said Tawhai’s partner drove, so he did not need a licence.

Last chance to connect

“Why should I not just send him to jail,” Judge Lawson asked after hearing that no pre-sentence report had been done on Jamie Russell because he had not connected with the community corrections’ service.

Russell is awaiting sentence on charges of receiving.

Police said Russell had no link to the original burglary, and they were not opposed to him receiving another chance to meet with a corections’ report writer.

In remanding him to December 11 for sentence, Judge Lawson said, “you might be busy and have a busy life, but I suspect not much is more important than going to jail – or not.”

He made it a condition of Russell’s bail that he attend corrections on a specific date.

No bail

A Poroporo man representing himself from custody was unsuccessful in convincing Judge Bill Lawson that he should be released on bail.

Nathan Rapaira Ngoungou appeared via audio visual link from prison where he is remanded on charges of threatening to kill, assault with a weapon, behaving threateningly, perverting the course of justice, resisting police, possession of utensils, possession of cannabis, possession of methamphetamine, escaping police custody, driving dangerously and failing to stop.

On being refused bail, Ngoungou asked whether he could change his not guilty pleas to guilty and be sentenced that day.

However, he was remanded to appear on November 25 for case review.

With Ngoungou struggling to access information from prison, and being a “complex individual” Judge Lawson said it was important that he had legal representation and noted the court’s preference that the person appointed be Leonard Hemi, who had assisted during the day’s proceedings.

 Burglary admitted

Wilson Petera Merito, 53, of Kawerau, will be sentenced on a charge of burglary on December 11.

He has admitted burgling a Plunket Street property on May 14.

A second charge of possessing a knife was withdrawn by police.

Remand in custody

Hihi Riini was remanded in custody on three charges.

Riini has pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon and possession of a knife but is denying a charge of arson.

EM bail granted

Sydney Jones has been granted electronically monitored bail while he awaits sentencing on charges of breaching a protection order, possession of utensils for smoking methamphetamine and failing to stop.

Police have withdrawn a second charge of failing to stop and one of escaping police custody.

The 32-year-old Whakatāne man will appear on December 3 for sentence.