An arrest warrant has been issued for a 17-year-old the police are seeking for a dairy robbery in North New Brighton last week.

Cigarette lighters and filters were taken when Jenny’s Dairy in Bowhill Rd, was raided by three men about 8.30am on May 28.

The police published photographs of one of the men, and the black Subaru Impreza getaway car.

Now the police have issued charging documents for Bronx Winiata, 17, alleging he carried out the robbery of the dairy “with persons unknown”.

They have also charged him with attempting to enter the New World supermarket in Woolston the day before the robbery, with intent to commit theft, and unlawfully taking the car.

The case was called in the Christchurch District Court today before Community Magistrate Leigh Langridge.

Winiata was not there and the police handed up a report on the efforts they had made to find him so far.

The community magistrate said the report detailed “why the police are unable to serve a summons on this man”.

She said: “I am satisfied there is sufficient reason to issue a warrant to arrest, based on the evidence they have.”

Police today issued an appeal for public help to locate the offenders responsible for three other dairy robberies that have taken place in Christchurch in the last few days.

No-one was injured in the Jenny’s Dairy robbery. The police allege the same car and group of people were involved in an attempted burglary at the supermarket at 4.15am the day before.

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A Nelson 32-year-old was remanded in custody for sentencing after he admitted two police pursuits through Canterbury in May.

Andrew David Hunter was travelling on State Highway 7 in Waikari, North Canterbury, at 120km an hour when the police followed him with their lights and siren activated.

The police followed him towards Christchurch, but abandoned the pursuit out of concern for public safety.

Hunter drove to a BP service station on Sawyers Arms Road, Christchurch, and filled his car with $52.51 petrol before driving off without paying.

He drove south towards Ashburton and was seen by police who pursued him again, using road spikes on Beach Road East.

He continued through Ashburton township through heavy traffic, and drove on the rim of one tyre when it detached from the wheel.

In Tinwald, Hunter was stopped by police when he became stuck in traffic, and a torch with a concealed knife blade in it was found in his car.

Hunter told police he didn’t see the police pursuing him, and he did mean to pay for the petrol.

He pleaded guilty to theft, possession of an offensive weapon, two charges of driving in a dangerous manner, and two charges of failing to stop for police.

Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan remanded Hunter in custody to appear for sentencing in the Nelson District Court on July 3.

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Sadism and sexual abuse of toddlers was among the internet pornography found in the possession of a Canterbury sportsman and churchgoer.

His online viewing and distribution has wrecked his home and ended with him being led sobbing to prison to begin a two-year three-month jail term.

It also sent a woman rushing in tears from the Christchurch District Courtroom where he was being sentenced as she realised he was not going to be granted name suppression to protect the family.

The man cannot be named. As soon as Judge Brian Callaghan refused the suppression, defence counsel Andrew McCormick had the interim suppression order continued until Monday so that he can file appeal papers.

The suppression will remain until the appeal is heard in the High Court, probably in a few weeks. In any case, the name of the community where the family lives has been suppressed.

The 39-year-old man was found with 3450 images and videos, and 65 percent of it was assessed as being at the worst level of child sexual abuse. He had admitted two charges of distributing nine objectionable child abuse images online, and one charge of possessing 3450 of them.

Mr McCormick said the man was well known in church and sporting circles in his local community. He urged that suppression be granted to protect his family, and the application for suppression was supported with documentation from the man’s wife.

The man sat downcast in the dock, with his eyes closed, while Judge Callaghan described some of the material found hidden on his computer and external hard drive.

The material involved sadism and penetrative sexual activity involving toddlers, pre-pubescent children, and young teenagers. Some involved bound and gagged children. The charges refer to images of the sexual abuse of girls as young as two to five years.

Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett said the material involved a significant number of children – they had all effectively been victimised by the man. It was known that children abused for online pornography grew up with damaged self-esteem, difficulties with trust, and problems establishing relationships. They faced “public shame and stigma which has no end”.

He urged that a long prison term be imposed, and said a home detention sentencing would not properly denounce and deter the offending. The Department of Internal Affairs, which laid the charges, opposed the man having name suppression.

He told the judge: “The children receive no anonymity when their images are traded on the internet. They continue to be victimised.”

Mr McCormick said the man was mortified by his behaviour and the consequences it had caused for his family. He had offended by distributing material by posting it online during a 24-hour period in 2015.

Since he had been spoken to in 2016, he had gone to a STOP course for sexual offenders. The course had led to a change in his thinking – he now understood the harm that such images caused to the victims.

Judge Callaghan said Parliament had increased the level of penalties in a determined effort to put an end to this type of offending.

The effect on the victims was substantial. “No doubt that they will have life-long issues if this is the way they have been treated at such a tender age.”

He reduced the jail sentence because of the man’s guilty pleas, his attendance at the STOP programme, and his lack of any previous convictions.

But he imposed a term that was beyond the two-year term where home detention could be considered. The computer equipment will be destroyed, though files of family photographs and documents will be retrieved and given to the man’s wife.

The man will also be registered as a child sex offender.

The judge considered the application for final suppression but said it did not meet the “extreme hardship” threshold required and he refused to make the order.

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A 24-year-old man has been jailed and banned from schools, parks, and swimming pools after admitting indecently touching a 10-year-old boy who was playing football at a school playground.

Kevin Joseph Riddell will have to serve all of a 16-month jail term imposed by Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan because he is a second-strike offender.

Some of the time may be served in an alcohol residential rehabilitation centre, and Riddell will also be registered as a child sex offender.

Riddell was given a first strike warning in November when he was sentenced for indecent assaults on two males aged over 16 years. He was given an intensive supervision sentence and a community work sentence.

He was still under that sentence when he went to a Canterbury school playground, which has a sports field next to it. He was drinking a large bottle of cider.

He approached a boy who was kicking a ball around, and played “football and kicks” with him for a while, and then sat next to the boy as he rested at the school playground.

He offered the boy a drink of cider, saying it was soft drink, but the boy declined. He then asked questions which the boy described as “weird”: If he was into women’s boobs or body parts? If he had a girlfriend? If he watched pornography?

The boy moved away but the defendant kept sitting closer to him.

He then said there was a “bug” on the boy’s pants and twice touched him on his genitals, over his shorts. He touched or massaged the boy’s leg as the 10-year-old got up and began to walk away. Riddell told him not to tell his mum.

The boy went straight home and told his mother everything, and police found Riddell drunk at the school with the empty cider bottle.

Defence counsel Nick Rout urged Judge Callaghan to impose a jail sentence no longer than18 months, lower than the term the Crown was pressing for, and said he believed that without treatment Riddell might keep reoffending.

Judge Callaghan said Riddell had written him a letter which “clearly comes from the heart”. He wrote of being badly affected by his remand in custody for sentence, and asking to have a restorative justice meeting with the boy’s family. That may take place after sentencing.

Riddell apologised for his behaviour and asked for name suppression but the judge said there was no basis for it.

He told Riddell: “Your offending in a sexualised manner is worrying, not because of the way you are, but because you clearly – when affected by alcohol – prey on other people who do not want your attention or desires.”

The boy’s mother said he was now displaying behavioural issues. “I do hope he can get some help with them, either through family or professional assistance,” said the judge.

He said Riddell had an alcohol addiction which contributed to his penchant for sexual offending. He needed a rehabilitation course such as the STOP programme for sex offenders, and there had now been three alcohol and drug assessments done on him.

Judge Callaghan imposed sentences for doing an indecent act on the boy, indecent exposure two days before that, drink-driving, and driving in breach of a zero-alcohol licence, dangerous driving, and failing to stop for the police.

After his driving was reported by a member of the public, Riddell had accelerated away and the police had abandoned the chase, but later found Riddell, sitting in his stopped car with the engine still running.

Jail terms totalling 16 months were imposed, and the judge banned Riddell from having any contact with a child under 16 unless under the supervision of an “informed adult”. He also banned him from schools, pre-schools, parks, playgrounds, reserves, and swimming pools.

Riddell is also disqualified from driving indefinitely – he will have to apply to get his licence back – and he cannot apply to have an alcohol-interlock licence for at least a year.

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A judge told a woman she was lucky not to be put on the next flight back to India after she was caught smuggling food and plant material through Christchurch International Airport wrapped in carbon paper.

Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders said 68-year-old Nilaben Jayantibhai Solanki’s behaviour had been “deceptive”.

Ministry for Primary Industries prosecutor Grant Fletcher said: “The use of carbon paper is a known method for wrapping illicit goods in the belief that it avoids detention by the x-ray scanning machines by distorting the image.”

Solanki, appearing in court with the help of an interpreter, admitted a charge of taking steps to conceal undeclared goods to hinder their detection.

She arrived on March 10 on a flight from Singapore, travelling on an Indian passport. On her arrival card she said she was bringing in food, but said she was not bringing in any plant or plant products, including seeds and bulbs.

Biosecurity officials found a packet of three different types of seeds, wrapped in carbon paper, in a zipped pocket of her handbag. In her luggage, were seven pickled Indian gooseberries wrapped in carbon paper, in the pocket of a pair of pants.

Similarly wrapped packages of tubers and seeds were found in the pocket of tracksuit pants and the zipped lining of the suitase.

Solanki said the seeds and tubers were intended as gifts for her son so that they could be planted and grown in New Zealand. Solanki lives in India and plans to leave New Zealand in August at the end of her six month visitor visa.

Mr Fletcher said: “The Ministry would normally be seeking a substantial sentence but given her age and visitor status, a fine is the only sensible sentencing option.”

Defence counsel Tom Stevens said Solanki said her husband in India had wrapped the items, so that they would not be noticed. She was extremely remorseful and he expected she would be much more careful in the future.

Judge Saunders said sending people who breached the rules immediately back to where they had come from would send a clear message. “She was most fortunate for immigration not to have cancelled her visa and sent her back immediately.”

Her actions had been deceptive. It was not like someone had overlooked an apple or a banana in their backpack, when they would face a $400 on-the-spot fine.

He fined Solanki $1600 after checking that she had family support in Christchurch and the fine would be paid within 28 days.

He said: “I hope she understands the potential consequences this may have caused to New Zealand had there been viruses or some spread of disease through what she did.”

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Tax totalling $191,344 was left unpaid after four companies set up by a man with four aliases went into liquidation in 2016.

The man appeared in the Christchurch District Court under the name Anatalea Andrew Lafaitele, 52, of Northwood, to plead guilty to four charges involving a long list of periods when the tax was not paid.

Inland Revenue told the court he had “multiple aliases” – Andrew Joe Vaotuua, Jean Paul Francois, and Taliaoa Andrew Vatua.

Judge David Saunders remanded him on bail for sentencing on September 7. He asked for a pre-sentence report and an assessment for home detention.

Lafaitele admitted charges of aiding and abetting the companies to use tax payments for purposes other than payments to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

The companies were A1Treecorp Ltd, A1Heatcorp Ltd, and A1Telecorp Ltd which were placed into voluntary liquidation on January 29, 2016. A1Corp-Division was put into liquidation on the application of the commissioner on December 15, 2016.

Lafaitele was the sole director and shareholder of each company. The companies operated tree cutting and heat pump services in the Christchurch area.

The charges refer to PAYE deductions, Kiwisaver employee and employer deductions, child support deductions, student loan employer deductions, and superannuation contribution tax.

The total amount not paid to the commissioner was $215,554, but after late payments the amount was reduced to $191,344. Lafaitele was the registered director, and a signatory on the bank account for each company. He was responsible for PAYE payments.

He received four warnings from Inland Revenue about the non-payments of the tax, but the offending continued for 20 months after that, the department said.

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A 29-year-old Hornby man has denied a charge of wounding a police dog and will stay in custody pending a bail hearing next week.

Defence counsel Caitlin Gentleman said Joshua Luke Cooper elected to be tried by a judge-alone on the allegation that he stabbed four-year-old police dog Kosmo in an incident at Kaiapoi on May 31.

Cooper now also faces a charge of possession of an offensive weapon – a knife – on the same date as the incident.

Police said at the time that the dog received a 4cm cut to the throat, narrowly missing his carotid artery, while responding to a family harm incident. He received a blood transfusion from another police dog.

Cooper pleaded guilty to a theft of petrol charge, denied the charge of unlawfully wounding the police dog, and entered no pleas to the offensive weapon charge and some older charges including being in an enclosed yard, possession of a psychoactive substance, breaching the Medicines Act, and unlawfully getting into a vehicle.

Miss Gentleman applied for Cooper’s release on bail at a video-link appearance from the prison, after he had been remanded in custody since June 1.

Judge Brian Callaghan wanted further checks to be made before the application was considered and remanded Cooper in custody to next Monday. After that he will go to a case review hearing.

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A 31-year-old second-strike offender must serve all of the three-year two-month jail term imposed for a daytime carjacking in Christchurch.

Michael Mamea declined to co-operate with his pre-sentence report – with his jail time guaranteed because of his prior strike warning, there was nothing to be gained.

He also prevented any meaningful in-court photography by the media in spite of the judge granting permission, by holding his hand over his face.

Mamea must now serve his jail term without parole or early release under the three-strikes system that imposes heavier penalties on repeat offenders.

Mamea admitted charges of kidnapping, unlawfully taking a car, failing to stop for the police, and dangerous driving. He has been in custody since his arrest in September 2017, and he will not be released until November 2020.

Defence counsel Josh Lucas said Mamea had done a traffic control and civil management course in prison and wanted to continue to try to improve himself. “When he is released in 2020 he is looking at going out on the fishing boats and staying away from other people for some time,” he said.

On September 23, 2017, Mamea approached a car with a man sleeping inside, in Hawdon Street, Sydenham, at 9.15am. He got the man to move into the passenger seat and drove him to an address in Hornbrook Street. He parked in the driveway and told the victim that he was a gang member and as long as he stayed in the car he would be safe.

Mamea went into the address and returned with two men, telling them he had “hijacked this guy”.

When they pulled into a service station, he took $40 from the victim and went into the station to prepay for petrol.

While he was putting petrol into the tank the victim got out of the car and raised the alarm with the staff, telling them he had been kidnapped.

Mamea drove off but was spotted by police on Anzac Drive, and failed to stop when the officer used his car’s flashing lights and siren.

He drove through a red light across Pages Road, and then again at Wainoni Road, and was pursued for about five minutes, reaching speeds of 70 to 80kmh.

On Mairehau Road the police used road spikes to try to stop the car, but Mamea saw them and tried to avoid them. He lost control of the car, ran off the road, and into a ditch.

The judge also disqualified him from driving for nine months.

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A woman who imported unauthorised Marimo moss balls into New Zealand has been the victim of “an Internet lynch mob”, her Christchurch District Court sentencing was told.

“It is obscene what’s happened to her,” said Judge Jane Farish at the sentencing of Raquel Elise Miranda.

Miranda had to close her art business because of the social media backlash after her trial in March. The stress and threats had led to the loss of her relationship and her home and she was now staying with friends.

She feared that convictions under the Biosecurity Act would prevent her being able to travel back to Brazil to visit family.

Judge Farish made it clear she believed the Ministry of Primary Industries had overstated the risk from the moss balls, which were sold by Miranda online through Trademe and at stalls in Christchurch over the 2015-16 summer.

The 38-year-old artist sought a discharge without conviction on three charges of obtaining a new organism and failing to tell the Ministry of its presence, recklessly obtaining the unauthorised organisms, and selling them.

Judge Farish found the charges proved at a judge-alone trial in March but acquitted Miranda on a charge of making a misleading statement to MPI biosecurity inspectors.

At the time of the trial, 11 of the moss balls she had sold through her Arte Viva Living Art venture had been recovered but three remained unaccounted for. The moss balls are used in fish tanks and terrariums.

The trial was told by MPI witnesses that the moss balls had the potential to ruin the lakes and rivers of New Zealand if they were allowed to be introduced, and even a small particle posed a risk.

However, a NIWA scientist’s report since then said that they were less of a risk. The moss balls were a dying species in the lakes where they were found naturally. Contamination in New Zealand would only happen if there was “direct human intervention”. There was a low potential risk of the algae spreading and doing damage to New Zealand’s lakes and lagoons.

“The things that have happened to her have been outrageous,” said the judge, referring to a “social media lynch mob” which had arrayed itself against her after the hearing.

She urged the MPI to use the case as an “educational opportunity” by putting additional information on its websites to ensure people realised that only the species listed there could be brought into New Zealand. She described the Ministry’s websites as “quite impenetrable”.

The moss balls were still being advertised for sale within New Zealand, but on an overseas-based website, she noted. The moss balls were becoming rare in some areas, and were “treasured” in Japan.

There was little information on their potential effect as a invasive species in New Zealand. The new scientific report said the moss balls were unlikely to obscure other vegetation, and were unlikely to spread to other waterways without human intervention.

“The risk to New Zealand is not as great as what was originally made out,” said Judge Farish.

However, the MPI prosecutor, Grant Fletcher, rejected the application by defence counsel Nicola Hansen for a discharge without conviction for Miranda.

Mr Fletcher said: “The Ministry is charged with defending the biosecurity of this country and will always take a zero-tolerance approach.”

Judge Farish said Miranda had taken steps to retrieve the moss balls that were in the terrariums she had sold. She had imported the moss balls through an overseas website, and had not taken all the steps she could to ascertain whether there was a risk.

Because of the need for deterrence under the Biosecurity Act, she felt there should not be a discharge without conviction. But she convicted and discharged Miranda without any further penalty. “All the punishment has already been meted out to you by the social media,” said the judge.

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The Crown accepts it “blundered” with a 2009 trial, but a group suing for damages allege it acted with malice as part of a “win-at-all-costs” mindset.

The case arising from the Operation Rhino burglary, theft, and receiving trial has reached the High Court in Christchurch as a civil claim against the prosecutor, Pip Currie, and the Crown.

Five people who were defendants at the trial have taken the action, which is being heard before Justice Peter Churchman over the next eight or nine days.

The group alleges that information held by Mrs Currie about an inducement given to a key Crown witness to give evidence at the Operation Rhino trial was not disclosed to the court in spite of repeated defence requests.

Bringing the action are Vincent James Clayton, Linda Westbury, Peter Lloyd Machirus, Gary Morell, and Nadia Pelenato. They are representing themselves at the hearing.

Mr Clayton presented the opening address in the case for himself and Miss Westbury, who was his wife at the time.

He alleged that there had been “deliberate, intentional, misleading and deceitful behaviour by Mrs Currie”. The Christchurch Crown prosecutor at the time, Brent Stanaway, and the prosecutor’s office, Raymond Donnelly and Co were “vicariously liable” for her actions, he alleged.

The defence had repeatedly tried to discover what “inducements” had been given to the Crown witness. He had received a “discount” on a sentence imposed in the Wellington District Court for the evidence it was anticipated he would give at the Operation Rhino trial.

He alleged that Mrs Currie knew this because she had received the sentencing indication but she had omitted to pass on the crucial information. She did not lead that evidence from witnesses and she did not refer to the benefit the witness was receiving in her closing address to the jury.

Mr Clayton said he was convicted at the trial on 34 out of 114 charges and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a non-parole term of three years, in November 2009. After he had spent14 months in prison, the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial but the Crown offered no evidence and he was discharged on the remaining 34 charges.

“That removed my ability to prove my innocence,” he told the hearing. “As of June 2018, the charges I faced and was acquitted of continue to hinder me in my day to day life.”

The Crown prosecutors’ deceit “struck at the heart of the criminal justice system and the integrity of it”, he said. He alleged she had breached the tort of misfeasance – the wrongful exercise of public authority – and had breached his rights under the Bill of Rights.

He told Justice Churchward: “Her actions or inaction was deceitful and intentional and she acted with malice towards the defendants, win-at-all-costs being her mindset.”

Mr Machirus said he had been convicted on 20 out of 67 charges at the trial where Mrs Currie had misled the court by withholding information. He believed the Crown had colluded to put a “hocus-pocus” submission to the Court of Appeal.

For the Crown, John Pike QC said the judge in Wellington had taken it “on his own bat” to reduce the witness’ sentence. It was a complex trial, “and all is not as it seems”. The Crown, as much as the defence, had been in the dark when the judge’s sentencing indication for the witness turned up.

The Wellington judge had even said the reduced sentence was not an inducement and would not be altered by the evidence the witness gave. It would not have affected the witness’ mind in giving that evidence.

The Crown said the prosecutor’s actions had been “an innocent blunder” and not an abuse of public office. It had always been acknowledged that the Crown made a mistake which ultimately cost it the case. In the aftermath, no further trial was held even though the Court of Appeal ordered one.

It was seen by the Court of Appeal as a blunder, but nothing beyond that. The prosecutor had no interest in convicting the defendants at the trial “any more than a Crown prosecutor has for any person before the courts”, said Mr Pike.

“Nothing marked these plaintiffs out for special attention,” he said, indicated those taking the action in the High Court.

Giving evidence, Mr Clayton said the group heard that the police operation had been called Operation Rhino. “We found later it was a reference to myself, made in poor taste.”

The hearing is continuing.

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The pressures that swirled around a witness in the Operation Rhino trials – including Canterbury Corrections staff apparently accessing his records – were detailed at a civil hearing where five people claim damages against the Crown.

The evidence was given by Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart McGowan of the Christchurch Police, who was second in charge of the burglary and receiving investigation that led to the trials in 2006 and 2007.

He gave the evidence on the second day of the hearing in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Peter Churchman where five people who faced charges relating to Operation Rhino have lodged claims against the Crown over the presentation of its case. The main claimants are Vince James Clayton and Peter Lloyd Machirus.

They allege that the Crown prosecutor Pip Currie misled the court by failing to disclose to the trials – in spite of repeated defence requests – that the key Crown witness had been offered “inducements” in terms of a reduced sentence for his own offending.

The witness’ name is permanently suppressed.

The Court of Appeal eventually quashed the Operation Rhino convictions and ordered a retrial but it did not go ahead because the Crown opted to present no evidence.

Mr McGowan said the inquiry related to a series of burglaries of homes under construction. When the witness was arrested in 2005, he named and spoke about his co-offenders and offered to give evidence.

Police were aware of the level of risk he was exposing himself to by giving evidence.

That was reaffirmed when it was found that Canterbury Corrections staff had apparently accessed his records in a deliberate search. He was in custody at that time, charged with 26 offences of burglary, theft, receiving, and unlawfully taking a vehicle.

The police consented to his court matters being transferred to Wellington and liaised with Corrections about his safety. At his sentencing, the Wellington judge gave him a 50 percent discount on his jail sentence after being told of his co-operation.

Mr McGowan told of one Operation Rhino accused – not one of the plaintiffs in the High Court claim – making gestures to the witness at a depositions hearing indicating a throat-cutting motion and a pistol shot to the temple. The accused was warned about the intimidation by the Justices of the Peace conducting the hearing.

When the witness was being escorted by police detectives, other general remand prisoners called out to him, calling him a “nark”.

Police helped with his relocation and he was moved to the North Island. There, his home address was burgled and the transcript and brief of evidence at the Operation Rhino trials were the only items stolen. These were then distributed around the criminal fraternity, Mr McGowan said.

Another detective visited the witness while he was in prison, noting details of 25 to 30 other offences he admitted at the interview. These were handled as “custody clearance” offences and were not prosecuted.

Mr McGowan said people attending the trials when the witness gave evidence had been screened, and extra security had been provided in court.

The civil hearing is expected to last eight or nine days.

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A Woolston teenager is in custody charged with the robbery of a North New Brighton dairy and an attempted raid on a supermarket.

Tai McDermott, 19, was remanded in custody when he appeared before a community magistrate at the Christchurch District Court today.

He is next due to appear by video-link from the prison on July 20, after the first appearance and remand without plea.

His charges are linked to another teenager for whom the police issued charges three weeks ago even though they were not able to find him.

That was Bronx Winiata, aged 17, who is jointly charged with McDermott for three offences. When the charges were laid, Winiata was alleged to have committed the offences “with persons unknown”.

The police now allege that one of those persons was McDermott and the charges also name a third person.

They say the group was in a car that had been unlawfully taken overnight on May 28-29, in Christchurch – a Subaru Impreza.

They allege the group attempted to break into the New World supermarket in Woolston, with intent to commit theft. They issued photographs of the men at the supermarket’s glass doors, while it was closed at 4.15am.

A few hours later, about 8.30am, they say three people were involved in robbing Jenny’s Dairy in Bowhill Road, North New Brighton, of Boomerang cigarette filters and a box of Easylite lighters.

No-one was hurt in the robbery.

After laying the charges against Winiata, the police detailed the efforts they had made to find him and a community magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest. The Christchurch District Court says that warrant has not yet been executed and he remains at large.

About the time the police laid the charges, they appealed for information from the public to help identify offenders who carried out a series of dairy robberies in Christchurch in the first week of June. They said they particularly wanted to hear about anyone offering cut-price cigarettes or selling an unusually large amount.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

Security in court was tight for the sentencing of five Neighbourhood Crips gang members for an exercise yard bashing in Christchurch Men’s Prison.

The victim of the bashing refused to make a complaint about the bashing on January 16 and declined medical treatment at the time.

Now he has refused to file a victim impact statement for the Christchurch District Court sentencing, and has indicated he does not want to meet his attackers at a restorative justice meeting.

One of the offenders appeared by video-link from the Otago Correctional Facility and the four in court had their wrists shackled to their belts. They still managed to give what appeared to be gang signs and shake hands with difficulty.

Six prison officers stood behind the four prisoners in the dock, and three Court Security Officers stood around the spectators in the public gallery.

Defence counsel Kerry Cook said the guilty pleas had been a significant saving for the courts, because of the obvious extra security needed for a sentencing. That cost would have been multiplied many times over if there had been a trial.

He said his client, Adam Robert Gempton, had become involved in the prison incident after becoming associated with the Neighbourhood Crips gang. “He’s found some brotherhood within that.”

Gempton, 29, is serving life with a non-parole term of 10 years after a trial in 2010 for the fatal stabbing of Timothy Constable in a brawl outside a Bishopdale address.

Resham Toa Blake-Faatafa, 22, of Milburn in Otago, Joseph Regan Andy Epiha, 30, of Invercargill, Riapo Piripi Tipene, 21, also of Milburn, and Charles John Tawha, 24, of no fixed abode in Christchurch, had also pleaded guilty to the assault with intent to injure.

Judge David Saunders said that after the victim was punched and kneed by the group, one of them had commented that he had breached their rules. “I infer that referred to the rules relating to the Crips gang.” At an earlier hearing, the court was told that the victim also belonged to the gang.

The judge said belonging to a gang was not necessarily seen as an aggravating factor because young men sometimes got a sense of family when they belonged to their chosen gang. The issue was what the gang did.

Tipene had a shocking record of violence and was already serving a term for intentional wounding, said the judge, jailing him for an additional 16 months on his current term.

Tawha had also admitted receiving a stolen $30,000 car, breach of prison release conditions, and breach of bail. He was jailed for an additional 26 months.

Blake-Faatafa is now serving a sentence of eight years seven months. Judge Saunders added an extra 16 months.

Epiha had a history of violence but now had programmes available to him in prison. Fourteen months was added to his sentence.

Gempton had admitted the prison yard assault, and a stabbing at the prison a few days later. He had stabbed another prisoner in the neck, causing a cut, with a knife improvised from a bent nail and melted plastic.

Because he is serving life, no cumulative term can be added, but the term may affect when the Parole Board can consider his release. Judge Saunders jailed him for two years six months.

With shouting and gang signs to the group in the public seating, the Crips members were then bundled out of court.

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Disclosure of details of a sentencing indication given to a man who would become a key Crown witness is at the centre of a civil action against the prosecution in the 2006 and 2007 Operation Rhino trials in Christchurch.

The Crown prosecutor at both trials, Pip Currie said she now wishes she had disclosed the sentencing indication in its entirety.

But the two-week civil hearing in the High Court at Christchurch, before Justice Peter Churchman, is examining what Mrs Currie believed was referred to in the sentencing indication given by a Wellington judge.

Five defendants in the Operation Rhino burglary and receiving trials have taken action against the prosecution after appeals against their convictions succeeded in the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions and ordered a retrial over non-disclosure of details about what was alleged to be an “inducement” given to the key witness. The Crown later opted not to go ahead with the retrial. Some of those convicted had already served 14 months in jail before the successful appeal.

Now the Crown’s handling of the case is being considered in detail in the High Court hearing where five people are seeking damages. The principal plaintiffs are Vincent James Clayton and Peter Lloyd Machirus.

Mrs Currie gave her evidence yesterday, denying a defence allegation that she had “suppressed” information to prevent the evidence of the key witness being ruled inadmissable because of an inducement of a lighter sentence to give his evidence.

She said the Wellington judge’s sentencing indication to the witness made it clear that he was being given no reduction as an inducement to testify.

The hearing was told earlier that the witness eventually received a 50 percent overall reduction of his sentence on charges that included his own burglary convictions.

Mr Clayton questioned the prosecutor in detail about when she had received a transcript of the sentencing indication and what she had believed it referred to.

She had disclosed to the Operation Rhino defence teams about the witness’ home detention and assault prosecutions in the sentencing indication transcript. She believed that when the judge referred to another Christchurch matter he had been referring to another trial, but she now understood it was Operation Rhino.

Mr Clayton asked: “Why did you not disclose the whole document in its entirety?”

Mrs Currie replied: “I wish I had.”

There had been repeated requests from the defence counsel. She was asked about one lawyer’s inquiry, but said she had not regarded it as a formal request.

It seemed to her that the witness was getting a discount on his sentence, but the Wellington judge giving him the sentencing indication was making it clear the reduction was not for giving evidence in the second Operation Rhino trial.

The first trial was aborted when one of the defendants became ill.

The current High Court proceedings will continue into next week.

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A man who breached two of his manslaughter parole conditions pleaded guilty to both charges in the Christchurch District Court today.

Shay Barry Webster, 26, poured petrol over Terry Smith and set him on fire on Anzac Day 2013. He believed Smith was a paedophile, but was mistaken.

Webster pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge and was jailed for five years three months. He was released from prison in February this year.

On June 19, 2018, Webster was arrested outside his curfew hours at an address in Sydenham that was not approved by the parole board. He was also intoxicated.

He was charged with breaching two conditions of his parole and was interim recalled to prison by the board to await a final hearing. Webster’s sentence expires on January 24, 2019.

Judge Raoul Neave convicted Webster, then discharged him on the charges, and told Webster it was up to the parole board to decide what happened next.

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A $8.3 million Ponzi schemer’s offer to pay reparation to his hundreds of victims – when he gets a chance – has been rejected with scepticism from the Crown and the judge.

The prospects of any repayment looked very bleak as 44-year-old Lance Jack Ryan faced sentencing for the Blackfort FX scheme that sucked in 900 investors.

Ryan had written Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish a letter apologising for his offending and offering to set up trading trust fund in the future to fund reparation.

Serious Fraud Office prosecutor Philip Gardyne said the office was sceptical and asked for a non-parole term to be imposed on Ryan.

Judge Farish said Ryan’s offer of repayment was “quite ridiculous” and not realistic at all. She told Ryan: “You should never be involved in any companies.”

Ryan’s offer came while he was bankrupt, facing a long jail term, and with uncertainty about his ability to generate any funds that could be diverted for reparations.

The liquidators of Blackfort FX reported that investors could only expect to get back 34 cents in the dollar on outstanding losses with assets recovered so far. Those shortfall on the $8.3 million that people invested now amount to about $4.4 million.

Ryan was appearing for sentencing on six charges including theft by a person in a special relationship, forgery, two of altering a document, and false accounting. He is already a prisoner serving time for other offending.

Jimmie Kevin McNicholl, 56, of Christchurch, had pleaded guilty to a fraud charge – obtaining registration as a Financial Service Provider by deception.

Judge Farish jailed Ryan for seven-and-a-half years with a non-parole term of three years nine months, and she allowed home detention for McNicholl.

Mr Gardyne said the SFO believed Blackfort was only ever a Ponzi scheme. No foreign exchange had ever been traded and no investments were ever made. A scheme was set up with the investors having passwords to access their accounts in a “cloud” to see how much profit their investments were generating – all of it fictitious.

Items recovered after the collapse included a $1.4 million property that had been held in a trust by Ryan, and a Bentley car bought for $205,000.

The court was told about victims living with stresses, strained relationships, people struggling with their daily lives, and families not having money available to help children, or give an elderly parent the care they needed as they struggled with Alzheimer’s disease.

Defence counsel for Ryan, Tim Fournier, said his client disputed that Blackfort had been a Ponzi scheme from the beginning, but accepted that it became one.

For McNicholl, defence counsel James Rapley said his client had “fallen under the spell” of Ryan and his foreign exchange trading scheme. He had believed that the Financial Markets Authority was being too strict in refusing approval because of Ryan’s background. He had signed a letter saying that Ryan was not involved and approval was then given, enabling the scheme to go ahead. Ryan’s record includes 63 fraud convictions in 2005.

People who signed up to the scheme also got family and friends involved. McNicholl himself got a family member involved and she had not spoken to him since, the court was told.

Mr Rapley said he accepted that the scheme had caused devastating consequences. “Mr McNicholl was dumbstruck when he found out it wasn’t true,” he said.

Judge Farish said Ryan had created false emails showing balances for the scheme in the millions, and referring to transfers of similar amounts. She described it as “an elaborate farce” by Ryan who had used McNicholl as a patsy and a dupe.

She reviewed the effects on victims including lost friendships, lost savings, a family home that had to be sold, and lost business opportunities. Some victims had struggled through the Christchurch earthquakes and had invested pay-outs to try to recoup some of their quake losses.

Some had lawyers and accountancy firms carry out due diligence on Blackfort FX, and they had been duped. The people would not have invested if the scheme did not have Financial Service Adviser accreditation. Ryan had undermined trust in the financial market in New Zealand by his deception.

She said Ryan had “conned” his family as much as he had conned his victims.

She said McNicholl had filed an affidavit in support of the SFO’s prosecution of Ryan. It was a significant abuse of trust that McNicholl had defrauded the Companies Office and the FMA with his letter about Ryan’s non-involvement. She told McNicholl: “You were under the spell of making money.” There was no evidence he knew the scheme was false.

Judge Farish imposed an 11-month home detention sentence on McNicholl, plus 350 hours of community work, and reparation totalling $50,000 to be paid back at $10,000 a year.

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A South Island businessman has been accused of arrogance in his dealings with the Financial Markets Authority and sentenced to community detention and community work for two breaches.

Garry James Patterson, 62, pleaded guilty in March to the two charges laid by the authority – failing to disclose that he was unregistered when providing financial services, and obstructing the FMA investigating by refusing an interview without reasonable excuse.

The prosecution is the first of its type, with Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish deciding against the FMA’s call for imprisonment to be considered.

She decided to impose 200 hours of community work and three months of community detention, and she recommended that Community Probation look for an agency placement where Patterson’s skills can be used “in a worthwhile fashion”.

Patterson had previously been convicted and imprisoned for signing up non-existent clients for insurance in 2006.

He was not registered as a financial service provider when a mortgage broking firm used him to provide insurance advice to clients from 2013 to 2015.

Judge Farish said he was taken on to work under the “umbrella” of the firm’s registration but had become the principal provider in six or nine cases, which led to the prosecution.

The clients had not lost funds because of his involvement, she said, but the firm’s principal had eventually lost its own registration and gone out of business, with the loss of jobs.

Judge Farish said the offending could be seen as causing some loss of public confidence in the industry and she said its showed “a degree of arrogance” in Patterson’s dealings with the authority.

The hearing was told that insurance sales had been Patterson’s business all his life. Defence counsel Tim Fournier said it was all he knew and “he did not have great, or other, employment options”.

Karen Chang, FMA Head of Enforcement, commented after the case: “Mr Patterson was not registered, which meant customers did not have the protections they should have had, such as access to an independent dispute resolution scheme. These protections are important as insurance products can be complex and people go to financial advisers to help them to get the appropriate product.”

He said Mr Patterson had also failed to comply with a statutory notice to attend an interview. Compliance with these notices was a legal requirement – it was not optional.

“The FMA’s information gathering powers, including conducting interviews, are vitally important for the performance of the FMA’s functions and in particular, the investigation of potential breaches of the law.  In the appropriate circumstances, such as in this case, we will bring criminal charges for non-compliance,” she said.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

After holding a pitchfork under a woman’s jaw, Trevor Bradley Mackie held her by the throat and said: “I could kill you if I want.”

In the course of the long assault, the 21-year-old Burnham joinery apprentice threatened, punched, slapped, choked, kneed, kicked, and stomped on the woman, and dragged her by the hair.

Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch noted that Mackie did all this “because she did not want to have sex with you”.

The woman received a cut to her hand, concussion, swelling to the back of her head, swelling to her jaw, abrasions on her back, injuries to her left foot and both arms, and strains to her pelvic area and neck muscles.

Mackie was jailed for two years six months for the December 16 incident, after he admitted charges of assault with intent to injure, assault with a weapon, threatening to kill, and indecent assault.

He had removed the woman’s clothing during the assault.

Judge Couch described it as “extreme violence” and issued Mackie with a first strike warning that imposes harsher sentences on repeat violent offenders.

He added to Mackie’s sentence because of his 2017 convictions for assaulting and threatening another woman.

Defence counsel Clayton Williams said Mackie took full responsibility. His client had said: “I have deep remorse for the victim of my cowardly assault.” Since he was taken into custody seven months ago, he had referred himself  to the Perpetrator Outreach Programme and done 13 sessions, as well as other counselling.

Mackie had been keen to meet the victim at a restorative justice conference, but it had not been arranged. He asked for a home detention sentence to be considered, but was realistic in accepting that prison was likely.

Judge Couch said the incident happened after Mackie had become drunk at a work function and had been taken to his home.

He said the woman had been a vulnerable victim. “She had gone to your home trusting that you would treat her decently, but it is hard to imagine a more gross breach of trust.”

During the assault, Mackie became enraged when he believed she was calling the police. He kicked her phone, breaking it, and then picked up a pitchfork which he held under her jaw.

When he heard sirens he dropped the pitchfork and threw the woman into the driver’s seat of the car where he held her by the throat, saying: “I could kill you if I want.”

Judge Couch said: “It was a threat accompanied by the immediate ability to carry it out.”

He accepted that Mackie had some remorse, but he believed his insight into his offending was still limited.

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A family had carefully educated their five-year-old girl not to have secrets, and her “trusted grandfather” is now in jail for her sexual abuse.

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish said the 66-year-old’s online activity indicated that there was premeditation and he may have continued to abuse the girl.

“Fortunately, this young child had been well taught by her parents,” said the judge. “But for the education around not having secrets, she most probably would not have told her mother.”

The man has now begun a five-year three-month jail term and Judge Farish told him he would need to serve a rehabilitation programme such as Kia Marama before he could be considered for parole.

The man has name suppression to protect the young victim. He pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault on a child, and two charges of unlawful sexual connection – oral sex – with the same child.

He also admitted five charge of possessing objectionable images. The images depicted bestialility involving adult women.

The girl’s mother described the man as a “trusted grandparent” who had offended against his only granddaughter when she had stayed at his house overnight. She felt “gutted” that the man had taken their daughter’s innocence.

The family now feared that she would repeat her disclosure to her friends or their parents, and there had been an incident when she and a friend had got naked while playing in a bedroom. She was going to weekly therapy sessions.

“Only time will tell how his actions will affect (our daughter) but that is a sentence we must all live with,” she said.

Crown prosecutor Chris White said he believed there had been some planning and premeditation. The man’s claims of remorse were “somewhat undermined” by his blaming of the victim.

“I think he’s in denial,” said the judge, noting that she had seen the man crying while the victim impact statement was read in court. He would not have any real understanding of his culpability until he had “meaningful therapy”.

Defence counsel Jeff McCall said the man acknowledged the destructive effects of the offending on the family. The man accepted that he committed the offending, but could not understand why he did it. “He acknowledges that he needs intensive help from professionals.”

Judge Farish said the man had caused significant damage and harm to the child. The girl was now going to therapy to try to deal with issues that arose when children were sexualised at such a young age.

“The saving grace is that she has protective and intelligent parents,” said the judge. “Hopefully, she will have a good and normal life and the offending will pale from her memory.”

The man’s wife has now left him and he has become isolated from his family. He will be automatically registered as a child sex offender.

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Rooftop burglar Craig Murray Shaw has admitted raiding $280,000 worth of jewellery from La Bu Jewellery, in The Tannery, in November.

Shaw, 43, climbed on the roof of The Tannery and entered the complex through a skylight during the night on November 25.

He smashed through a wall into the jewellery shop and took 2700 pieces of Turkish and Middle Eastern unique handmade sterling silver, and semi-precious stone, jewellery.

The rings, ear-rings, bracelets, and pendants were valued at $280,000, and Shaw did $2000 worth of damage to the complex.

Police say only 1,700 pieces have been found, valued at $176,000. They are seeking reparation of $104,000 for La Bu Jewellery, and $2000 for The Tannery.

Two other charges of burglary were withdrawn by police in the Christchurch District Court, and Judge Tony Couch remanded Shaw in custody for sentencing on October 18.

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