A sex offender sent back from Australia has now been jailed for indecencies against children he encountered in public places.

Forty-three-year-old Gustafoham Harris was sentenced to three years’ prison, with a non-parole period of two years’, for doing indecent acts on two children, and assaulting one of them.

Preventive detention for was considered at his sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch sentencing, but Justice Rachel Dunningham said he had not done any deviant sexual rehabilitation programmes in prison, and she thought he should be given the opportunity to do them.

Defence counsel Don Matthews told the court that Harris apologised to his victims, their families, and the community.

He said Harris was willing to engage in rehabilitation treatment, and he accepted guilt at the outset so the victims did not have to give evidence in court.

Crown prosecutor Sophia Bicknell Young said Harris had offended consistently when he was not in custody on similar charges in Australia, and he did this offending despite the protective conditions he was under when he was returned to New Zealand.

She said preventive detention would not mean he stayed in prison indefinitely, but just while he was still a risk.

Justice Dunningham said that in February 2017 a seven-year-old boy was playing by a stream when Harris asked him to hold his bike. Harris got his penis out, and asked the boy to show him his. He ejaculated in front of the boy before the child ran away.

In 2018, an 11-year-old got off a bus and Harris followed him. Harris asked him to hold his backpack while he urinated. He then masturbated in front of the boy who ran off, but Harris dragged him back and said he couldn’t leave, but then let him go.

The victim impact reports from the boys said the seven-year-old was on antidepressants, started wetting the bed, and wouldn’t play outside. The 11-year-old was fearful of strangers, and scared to catch the bus.

Justice Dunningham said in Australia in 2005, Harris grabbed an 11-year-old girl walking home from school and refused to let her go. She screamed, and he pushed her to the ground and thrust his crotch at her. When a person arrived on the scene, he ran off.

Another time there was a five-year-old girl playing in school at lunchtime. A ball the girls were playing with went over a fence and when she went to retrieve it he grabbed her around the waist and pulled down her underwear. He pulled out his penis and pushed it against her and ejaculated in front of her and the girls looking over the fence.

In 2016, Harris was sent to New Zealand and was subject to the Returning Offender’s Management Act. He was not to loiter around where children may congregate.

She said he watched or followed the two boys. They were vulnerable, and he took them to secluded areas.

Two reports done for the sentencing said without intervention Harris was a high risk of re-offending.

Harris had a troubled upbringing after the death of his grandmother who was his main carer, she said, and effectively left school and was on the streets in Australia from the age of 10.

She sentenced Harris to three years’ prison, with the minimum parole period so that he could finish a rehabilitation programme while he was in there. She said he had harmed the victims and the brazenness of the offending was of concern to the community.

She also gave him the first of the three strike warnings for repeat violent offenders.

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A huge brawl erupted in Christchurch’s main court as men rushed the dock where a 35-year-old had admitted charges relating to the fatal shooting of a King Cobra gang member at Charing Cross.

Chairs went flying as a man leapt across the lawyers’ tables and tried to attack Daniel Gary French.

That man ended up perched on the top of the glass partition surrounding the dock before police and security officers brought him down onto the floor near the front of the No 8 Court, about four metres from where Judge David Saunders was sitting.

Police, court escort, and Court Security Officers were involved in that struggle as well putting a second man on the floor when he reached the area just behind the dock.

A third man was ordered down on the floor behind where the lawyers were seated and lay quietly and stayed out of the fight.

Two men were arrested and the third who did not resist was ordered out of the Justice Precinct. The two men arrested were wearing red – a gang colour.

Judge Saunders halted the court while the men were bundled out to the cells and the full courtroom settled down again.

At least 10 police and security staff had been positioned in the court before the brawl broke out.

“Let’s start tidying up people,” said police prosecutor Sergeant Paul Scott. “We’ve got work to do.”

Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger said name suppression lapsed for French who has had it since his arrest last month.

Without bringing him back into court, Judge Saunders remanded French in custody for sentencing on January 30. He ruled out any possibility of a home detention sentence by not ordering the necessary report.

The judge also checked with the police that French was being held separately in the cells from the two men who had been arrested. He was told that had been arranged, and the men would be appearing in court later.

Another man, who still has name suppression, has been charged with the murder of Luke Sears, who is also known as Luke Riddell, aged 28. He was shot dead in front of his girlfriend on Grange Road, Charing Cross, Selwyn on October 13. He is remanded in custody to appear in the High Court on February 5.

French was arrested a few days after the shooting on charges of unlawful possession of two firearms and ammunition. He had been held in custody until he appeared today on further charges of cultivating cannabis, theft, and selling cannabis. He pleaded guilty to all six charges just before the struggle broke out in court.

The police said that between October 2016 and October 2018, French had sold a large amount of cannabis plant to Luke Sears from a cannabis growing operation on a property at Telegraph Road, Charing Cross.

The police said French told them that he had been placed in a difficult financial position because a business customer owed him a large amount of money. He started growing cannabis to make some money.

He met Sears, who was keen to buy cannabis, through an associate. He said Sears owed him $60,000.

On the day of the shooting, French was driving a vehicle on Grange Road. Inside the Toyota vehicle was a sawn-off shotgun which was in the possession of French and an associate.

A second shotgun and cartridges were in a second vehicle at French’s home.

French does not hold a firearms licence and police said he had no lawful purpose for having any firearms or ammunition.

Police said they executed a search warrant at the Telegraph Road property in December 2009 and prosecuted the occupier at that time for growing cannabis in a 6m shipping container buried in the gravel floor of a shed.

The Selwyn District Council cut the top off the container and filled it with dirt.

French then leased the shed in 2015. He removed the container from the ground and buried two 6m containers in the shed. He created rooms underground, and installed a third container with a manhole for access to the underground area. He then began growing cannabis.

As part of the homicide investigation, police got a warrant and searched the property where they found 63 cannabis plants growing underground, with watering and lighting systems. A drying room for the cannabis was found, with 1.4kg of cannabis hanging from string and coat hangers.

French had bypassed the power meter and was not paying for the power to grow the cannabis.

“This was a sophisticated and well executed cannabis operation with an extremely well organised and planned theft of power,” the police said.

French said he had been growing cannabis there for about 15 months, but police believe the period was longer because of satellite images showing the removal and installation of the containers.

Afternoon update:

In the afternoon, Marcus Moagutuuli, a 26-year-old Burnside contractor, was brought back into court on charges of assaulting French and resisting a police officer.

Judge Saunders said it had been the worst case he had seen in 25 years as a judge of interrupting the court, and jailed Moagutuuli for three months for contempt of court – the maximum sentence.

He said he had witnessed a determined attempt to get to French and the offender had wilfully interrupted the court proceedings.

Defence counsel Kirsty May said Moagutuuli apologised for the incident, and explained that “his emotions got the better of him”.

The judge remanded Moagutuuli in custody to December 7, without plea on the charges.

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Three men charged with stupefying or sex charges against a woman in April last year have been granted name suppression and remanded on bail at the Christchurch District Court.

The three were remanded to appear again on December 13. Judge David Saunders granted suppression to that date, but said it would have to be reviewed at that hearing.

The three appeared at bail hearings which mean only limited details are allowed to be reported.

A 36-year-old faced charges of supplying the class B drug ecstasy, and stupefying and sexually violating a woman. He will have to live at a specified address, surrender his passport to the police, not contact the complainant, and not possess any non-prescribed drugs.

A 34-year-old Sydenham man faced two charges of sexually violating the same woman. He must surrender his passport, live at a specified address, not contact the complainant, not possess or consume non-prescribed drugs, and not go to two Christchurch addresses.

A 33-year-old was charged with two charges of sexual violation, supplying ecstasy, stupefying a woman, making an intimate visual recording, and possession of an objectionable publication. He was granted interim suppression and remanded on bail on a series of conditions.

He is not allowed to go to three named Christchurch locations, nor consume alcohol or drugs, and he must surrender his passport – already held by the police.

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A cushion was held over the face of an 83-year-old man to stop him screaming during a robbery in his Papanui home, and he was threatened with his own garden secateurs.

“I’m going to stab you, you bastard,” Maera Elizabeth Todd told the man during the August 13 robbery at a house in St James Street, while her companion searched for items to steal.

Both Todd, 39, and the other robber, Shantai Lawson, 38, have pleaded guilty to charges of robbing the couple aged 83 and 81, while armed with a weapon – the secateurs Todd picked up at the house.

After Lawson’s plea today, Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders remanded her in custody for sentencing on January 16. Todd pleaded guilty in September and is due for sentencing on Wednesday. She is also in custody.

Lawson is from Owhata, in the Rotorua area, and Todd is from Tikipunga, in the Whangarei area.

Defence counsel Pip Hall QC said Lawson waived her right to a pre-sentence report in the hope of being sentenced more quickly, but the judge remanded her for a report to be prepared anyway.

He said it would help the prison sentence planners, and the Parole Board would want to know about Lawson’s circumstances at the time of the offending. She could participate in the interview if she chose.

Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett Todd and Lawson went to the street in a car about 4pm and Todd knocked on the door of the house. When the man came to the door she asked about the address number, and then left.

She returned a minute later and continued asking about the address number, and then both women pushed past the man and into the house.

Lawson began opening drawers and searching for items to steal while Todd grabbed the man with both hands and pushed him to the floor, pinning him down with her leg while Lawson took a silver watch from his pocket.

Lawson yelled, “Where is the money?” but the man replied that he had no money.

Todd then put a cushion over his face to stop him screaming. Todd then grabbed a pair of secateurs belonging to the victim, held them in front of his face and threatened to stab him.

The man attempted to crawl away but Todd pulled him back.

The man’s wife then returned home and as she opened the front door, Todd shoved her with both hands causing her to fall from the top step and land on her back on the concrete path.

Both women then fled the address in the car, but were quickly stopped by the police, in St James Street.

They had a cell phone taken in the robbery, the woman’s wallet, the silver watch, and a black bag containing other items belonging to the couple. Police found the stolen secateurs in Todd’s trouser pocket, Mr Mallett said.

The man was emotionally traumatised and received a cut on his mouth. The woman had a graze on her forehead and a sore lower back. Both needed medical attention.

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A tearful teenager has been charged with manslaughter over the death of 18-year-old Alexia Chrissy-Marie Noble-Hazelwood in central Christchurch on Friday night.

The 19-year-old scaffolder from Hornby, faced six charges when he appeared before Judge Gary MacAskill at a closed-court session in the Christchurch District Court today.

Judge MacAskill had ordered the court to be closed because he said “police have advised there are security concerns”.

The teenager, who appeared upset in the dock, entered no plea and was remanded on bail to appear in the High Court on December 4.

At the request of duty lawyer Kiran Paima, the judge granted interim name suppression, to give more time to advise family and friends. Police were neutral about the name suppression application.

Judge MacAskill said he would put the order in place and leave the High Court to decide on suppression after a hearing on December 4.

The alleged driver faces a charge of causing the death of Miss Noble-Hazelwood by the unlawful act of dangerous driving.

He is also charged that having been involved in an accident where a person was killed, he failed without reasonable excuse to stop and ascertain whether anyone had been injured.

He is also charged with reckless driving causing injury to three other people – passengers in the car that allegedly crashed through a fence and into a tree and a building at the entrance to Christchurch East School on Gloucester St, Christchurch, about 11.15pm on Friday.

The three injured are named as Tristan Le Comte, Zachery Noble-Hazelwood, and Angel Livingstone.

Another charge alleges he failed to remain stopped for a police officer to get his particulars.

Judge MacAskill remanded him on bail to live at particular address where he will have a night time curfew, not to contact the three people alleged to have been injured, and not to consume alcohol or illicit drugs.

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A Christchurch teacher is denying methamphetamine charges and has elected trial by jury.

The man, in his 50s, was granted continued name suppression by Judge Gary MacAskill in the Christchurch District Court today.

He was remanded on continued bail for a Crown case review on January 30.

The man denies charges of possession of 1.5g of methamphetamine for supply, and possession of a pipe for smoking the class A drug.

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A woman charged with stealing a trailer containing the luggage of a Chinese tour group has been granted a registrar’s remand at the Christchurch District Court.

Cristal Rose Devereux, 24, of Cashmere, was remanded on bail to appear again on December 18.

The remand, which meant she did not have to appear in court before a judge, was granted to enable her to get legal advice.

She has entered no plea to the charge of stealing a shuttle trailer and contents including luggage, electronic devices, camera equipment, and other property valued at $45,907, which belonged to a hire company and a tour operator.

The theft is alleged to have occurred on November 10, a few hours after the group of 16 Chinese tourists had been picked up from Christchurch Airport. The group were mostly from the same family, and all but one had never been to New Zealand before.

The tour operator, Eric Wu, said the group was taken to a restaurant in Upper Riccarton and the trailer was parked in Leslie Street.

Security camera footage shows a silver utility vehicle pulling up behind the tour minivan, before the black-clad driver unhooks the trailer and attaches in to the other vehicle and then drives off.

The woman has been jointly charged with a man who is named in the charge. He was not listed to appear at court today.

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The elderly victims of a pair of violent home invaders want to leave their heritage house in Papanui because they do not feel safe, but have found they will have to stay.

The 83-year-old man who was attacked, threatened, and robbed, told one of the offenders at her Christchurch District Court sentencing: “You have viciously and violently changed our lives and we will never forget it.”

“Alternative accommodation is beyond our means and we have had to move back into our home, but we will never be comfortable there,” he said.

His 81-year-old wife said she had never wanted to return to her home after the robbery. “My home now has horrible memories attached to it.”

Her face had been left black and blue and she now wanted to move away from Christchurch.

She told Todd: “I hope this is your last conviction. This is your chance to turn your life around. If you can do that, maybe I can forgive you. Please don’t do this to anyone else again.”

Maera Elizabeth Todd, 39, of Tikipuna, Whangarei, had admitted charges of robbing the couple and an aggravated assault on the 81-year-old woman.

The 83-year-old man asked that Todd be told to look at him as his read his statement, but Judge Farish said it was up to Todd whether she looked at him or not.

He said he had formed a strong attachment to his heritage home and had spent years pottering in the garden. The home had been a huge part of the couple’s enjoyment and life.

He said he was now angry and fearful, after fearing he was going to be killed in the August 13 robbery which had changed his life. The arrival home of his wife during the robbery had probably saved his life, he said. The offenders were screaming at the couple and he feared he was going to be slashed with the garden secateurs.

“I was screaming for anyone who might be passing the house,” he said. Todd had tried to muffle his screams with a pillow and then grabbed the secateurs and threatened him.

His sons had had to come to Christchurch from Auckland to support their parents. He was now receiving regular counselling, but he remained “frightened for the instability of our future”.

Defence counsel Richard Peters said Todd had been contrite from the start and had written letters of apology to the victims, though she had not been allowed to bring them to the hearing from the prison. She had sent a letter to the judge. It was clear that she wanted rehabilitation.

Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett said the robbers had followed the elderly man in the mistaken belief that he had a large sum of cash. “They were preyed upon as easy targets.”

He said Todd’s involvement had been more violent than the co-offender. She had threatened the man using a pair of secateurs and had pushed the woman over down the house’s front steps when she arrived home.

He asked for a uplift to Todd’s sentence for her criminal history: 48 previous convictions including theft and shoplifting and assault with a weapon in 2014. She was assessed as a high risk of reoffending, and was a chronic user of methamphetamine.

Judge Jane Farish said the couple had had a happy and contented life at their well cared for home. The robbers had pushed into the home after inquiring at the door about the address number. They searched the house, took items, and Todd had assaulted the man, placed a cushion over the man’s face to silence him, and then threatened to stab him with his garden secateurs.

The pair fled in a car, but police found them nearby with the secateurs and items they had taken.

The victims had been significantly affected, and the offending had disturbed their lives. The house now held frightening the disturbing memories for them. The woman’s face had been covered in bruises, and the man’s mouth was cut.

She said Todd had been offending for 30 years, after an upbringing in an atmosphere of violence and drug addiction. Her record included 15 breaches of court orders or prison release conditions.

Todd was a mother, and her children wanted her to have “a different life”, said the judge. Her parenting ability had been impaired by her drug abuse and criminal history.

She noted that Todd now said she could not believe she had offended in such a serious way. “You need to respect your elders, and hold them in high esteem.” She had seen that Todd appeared upset as the couple read their victim impact statements out in court.

She should be ashamed and appalled because her offending was “at the lowest of the low in the way we need to deal with one another in a civilised society”.

She imposed a prison sentence of seven years four months, with non-parole term that means she will have to serve half the term before the Parole Board can consider her for release. She was also given concurrent terms for two breaches of prison release conditions.

The other offender, Shantai Lawson, 38, of Owhata in the Rotorua District, pleaded guilty to the robbery charge at a separate court session on Monday and has been remanded in custody for sentencing in Christchurch on January 16.

At the end of Todd’s sentencing, the judge thanked those who had taken part in the sentencing session, and wished the elderly couple all the best for the future.

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Police will have to keep their hands off gang members’ “colours” as they go about their business – legal or otherwise – after a judge’s ruling in the Christchurch District Court.

The Crown and police made a determined effort to confiscate Rebel MC colours, saying that the leather vests were a part of the group’s criminal activity.

But Judge Tom Gilbert wasn’t buying it, and his ruling means admitted drug dealer Baden Kenneth Clunie, 25, will get his gang patch returned to him.

“Thank you, Judge,” said Clunie as he was taken back to the cells to continue the two-year three-month jail term he is serving.

He was sentenced along with four other Rebels MC members in June, on charges of participating in an organised criminal group that was selling drugs, and offering to supply methamphetamine and cannabis.

After the bid to take the colours under the Sentencing Act failed, the Crown will have to be satisfied with confiscating the total of $22,302 cash the police found in raids on the Rebels gang pads at the end of an investigation and surveillance operation in 2016.

The money was found wrapped in a balaclava, in the wheel well of a vehicle, under a vehicle’s wheel, and in the pocket of Baden Clunie’s gang vest – which led to the confiscation application.

Judge Gilbert granted the application under the Misuse of Drugs Act to take all the money, and to destroy the firearms, drugs, and drug equipment found by the police. Other gang assets such as motorcycles may be taken away with separate applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier argued that the vest was an integral part of the gang’s ability to commit organised crime. It was a sign of membership and status, and was used to “commit or facilitate” crime as defined in the Act.

She pointed to an intercepted text conversation in which Clunie and another member were going to see someone who was “selling (drugs), using our colours”.

Clunie had claimed that the $2870 cash found in his gang vest was from work he had been doing “under the table” for a horticultural firm. There was no record of the payments and the business owner had skipped overseas because of money he owed.

She accepted that it was new law, to seek confiscation of the vest. The Sentencing Act’s provisions had never been used to extend to this kind of case before.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett said the provisions were usually used for financial matters. The gang vests might be used for many reasons such as for ceremonial purposes, or while riding on motorcycles. Bringing the action which was “in the realms of conjecture” against one person on an “interests of justice issue” did not present a good look.

Judge Gilbert noted a 2013 decision in which another judge – operating under different legislation – had ordered the return of gang paraphernalia. That judge had not been persuaded that items of clothing, no matter how distinctive, had “facilitated” the commission of crimes.

“The general sentiment that I discerned was that it is a stretch to say that clothing with gang insignia on it can itself be said to facilitate the commission of crime,” said Judge Gilbert.

“It may be an instrument of bad taste or anti-social tendencies in the minds of some, but I don’t consider it an instrument of crime within the meaning of the Instruments of Forfeiture regime, and I decline to order forfeiture of it.”

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Name suppression continues for a 17-year-old girl facing a murder charge in the High Court at Christchurch while reports are prepared ahead of a trial tentatively set for September.

Justice Rachel Dunningham told defence counsel Ruth Buddicom that the interim suppression order on the girl – she was aged just 15 when she was allegedly involved in the murder of Pierclaudio Raviola – was due to lapse today.

However, Miss Buddicom argued that it should remain in place until more information was available from reports now being prepared, and the judge continued it until a pre-trial call-over on February 15. She said it would have to be fully argued on that day.

Justice Dunningham said the trial date for the three accused was now suggested for September 2, with the trial possibly expected to last five weeks. The date has not yet been confirmed.

Cyle Robert Jetson, 20, and Deborah Jean Tihema, 38, are also charged with the murder of 65-year-old Mr Raviola in an alleged attack at a Bromley house in March 2017. He was left badly injured in a carpark at Sumner and later died in hospital.

The girl was arrested on the murder charge only two months ago. She remains in custody. Tihema is also in custody and Jetson remains on electronically monitored bail.

All are remanded to the same pre-trial session in February.

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A former partner described the “evil, smirking look” on Paul Dumelow’s face as he told her: “Your children will never see you alive again.”

She told the 51-year-old’s Christchurch District Court sentencing, “I have never experienced such coldness or darkness before. The man who trapped me in my bedroom that night was pure evil.”

Judge Raoul Neave jailed Dumelow for four years six months for a crime that the Crown said was “heading towards a murder-suicide”.

Dumelow had admitted charges of kidnapping and threatening to kill the woman, and the aggravated burglary of her house, as well as the aggravated assault of a police officer at the address in Christchurch.

Prosecutor Pip Currie said the Crown was sceptical about Dumelow’s insight into the effects of the offending or his remorse. He was assessed as a low risk of further offending, unless there was a change of mood. He had been imprisoned previously.

Defence counsel Marcus Zintl said experts agreed that Dumelow had been suffering from a major depressive illness at the time. His judgment had been affected by taking two prescribed drugs at the time and his actions were not those of a rational person.

The woman told the court she feared for her safety when he was eventually released, but Dumelow said through his lawyer that he wanted to reassure her that he was not a risk.

Dumelow arrived at the woman’s address on February 11, 2017, and parked in the driveway. He grabbed a bag containing a hammer, cable ties, a craft knife, a plastic drink bottle filled with petrol, and a bottle of wine.

He kicked a side gate open and yelled at the victim,“I’ve come to finish this”.

He entered the house and demanded the woman go upstairs with him to her bedroom, and when she refused he grabbed her right upper arm, and forced her up the stairs. She yelled at her son to phone the police.

Dumelow pushed a large set of drawers over the door of the bedroom, preventing the woman from getting away and stopping anyone getting in to help.

He told the woman to stop crying and said, “I’ll pour petrol on you now and light you on fire”.

Dumelow got the knife from his bag and held it near her throat saying he was going to slit it, and started drinking from the bottle of wine.

He told the woman: “I’m ending this here, I’m not leaving this room alive and you’re probably not either”.

While Dumelow was getting items out of his bag the woman managed to call her sister on her cellphone and yelled for help. He grabbed the phone from her and smashed it with the hammer.

A police officer arrived and tried to open the bedroom door. He yelled at Dumelow to let him in, and could hear the victim screaming. He kicked the door and as it began to break apart he could see in the room.

The victim tried to climb out the bedroom window, but Dumelow moved towards her with the knife. She jumped over the bed and tried to move the drawers and gave enough access for the police officer to taser Dumelow who was attempting the hit him with the wine bottle.

While trapped in the bedroom, the woman told the court she had pleaded with Dumelow not to kill her for the sake of her children, but he told her the children would never see her again. She said he held up the knife and threatened to slit her throat, and throw petrol on her and set her alight.

“I was absolutely convinced I was going to die in my bedroom that night,” she said.

Her son had displayed huge courage and wisdom beyond his years that night in getting help, and she would be forever grateful to him and the police for saving her life.

She now suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was having flashbacks and nightmares.

Judge Neave said Dumelow’s behaviour had been “selfish and cruel”. His actions had been “pre-planned, premeditated, and calculated” and the incident was “a significant act of domestic terrorism”.

The woman’s son had behaved with conspicuous bravery and strength of character.

The pre-sentence report was generally favourable, and Dumelow had support from his family who held him in high regard. The judge declined to make any allowance in the sentence for “mental health issues”.

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For firing a close-range shotgun blast into his ex-partner’s leg while two children were nearby, a Loburn man has been jailed for 10 years.

Thirty-five-year-old Luke Adam Nickless claimed the shot was an accident. A Christchurch District Court jury deliberated for about two hours in September before rejecting that claim and finding him guilty.

Now Judge Jane Farish has told him of the tragedy of the moment that has affected the lives of everyone involved – including the two small boys who were nearby.

The six-year-old ran to get help and was picked up by a Loburn neighbour who stopped as he drove by.

“Daddy has shot mummy,” the boy told the man, who took him to his house to call for help.

The woman who was shot in the back of the leg at a range of about 5m has post-traumatic stress disorder and the boys have needed counselling. Judge Farish said the effects could be a “life-long affliction”.

The woman said in her victim impact statement: “I am annoyed that I have to live with what’s happened for every minute of every day. I am in constant pain and reminded of what happened every time I close my eyes.”

Nickless was found guilty at a four-day trial on a charge of wounding the woman with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, threatening to kill, and four charges of unlawful possession of military-style semi-automatic weapons. He had admitted unlawful possession of a pistol – the cut down pump-action shotgun used in the shooting. Nickless said the gun’s stock had been cut down to fit into a scabbard while he was pig-hunting.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett said Nickless’ behaviour had been “an absolute disaster”. There was now some evidence of “positivity and change” from a man who had naively believed at the time of the trial that his version of events would be accepted.

Nickless had been upset that his evidence that he had made an emergency call after the shooting had not been accepted.

The Crown evidence was that afterwards, Nickless had held the gun to the woman’s head and threatened to blow her brains out. The woman had pleaded for her life, for the sake of the children, and Nickless had got a first aid kit and helped her.

Crown prosecutor Pip Currie said the incident had involved extreme violence and serious injury, in the presence of children.

The Crown said Nickless had not shown any real remorse or acknowledged responsibility, and Judge Farish said that in his pre-sentence interview with probation he still claimed that the shot was an accident.

He had never offended before. References described him as a good bloke who could be relied upon, and a very good worker.

He apologised in a letter to the judge for the physical and emotion harm he had inflicted on the victim, the family, and the community.

He had not had the appropriate skills and strategies to deal with the breakdown of the relationship, and he had never accessed any assistance to help him cope, the judge said.

“You are only now coming to terms with the enormity of the situation you have created,” she said.

Before considering his release, she expected the Parole Board would want to see evidence of psychological assistance for Nickless about dealing with conflict in intimate relationships.

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Emotions have been getting too much for a youth who admitted plotting an ISIS-style terrorist attack, and he has been involved in a series of incidents at his supported accommodation in Christchurch.

When faced with a report about the incidents at a monitoring session in the Christchurch District Court today, the teenager responded by inviting Judge Stephen O’Driscoll to a barbecue.

The judge will consider that invitation in January – but only if the teenager has been behaving himself in the meantime.

The Crown, the police, and even the court reporters would be invited, the youth assured the judge, 10 months after his intensive supervision sentence began.

Judge O’Driscoll has been monitoring him with monthly reports and sessions at court. That changed to two-monthly recently, because of his progress, but that has all changed again after today’s report.

“I couple of negative things have happened,” said Judge O’Driscoll, after reading the report from Community Corrections. “You have lost a bit of control of your emotions. You need to keep that in check because everyone is doing their best to keep you on track and keep you going forward.”

The judge said there had also been “a bit of an incident with your house-mate”, but the youth replied: “That has been sorted.”

Last year, the youth had been radicalised online and planned a terrorist attack “for Allah”. He planned to ram a car into a group of people and then stab them until the police killed him. He went through with a threatening and violent incident but “decided not to hurt anybody because he did not have the means to kill enough people”, the Crown reported when he pleaded guilty.

He has been making progress, with supervised activities including his first golf game and studying for his NCEA where he had gained 12 credits at the monitoring session in August. He has gained no more credits since then.

The youth, who has name suppression, said he was about to start back at correspondence school because he had been “lacking on it”.

“I haven’t been feeling the greatest, but I’ll get back into it,” he said.

The youth will attend a meeting on Thursday with his supervision officials, a psychologist, and police, to assess progress at about the mid-point of his sentence, and Judge O’Driscoll will get a report from that.

The judge wants to know what is planned for the youth during the holiday period.

Defence counsel Anselm Williams relayed the youth’s invitation to the judge to come to a barbecue at his supervised accommodation. He said he had been impressed by how the youth had shown him around the place a month-and-a-half ago.

The judge set the next monitoring session for December 12, and will meet the youth again in January and then decide on the invitation – and acceptance will depend on his behaviour.

“No-one, including the Crown, will want to attend if you have got into further trouble or things aren’t going well,” said Judge O’Driscoll.

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A 21-year-old woman has admitted possession for supply of synthetic drugs – but the charge does not allege the substance was responsible for a spate of hospital admissions and deaths.

Lani Hawkins, of Phillipstown, was arrested in early October at a time when Christchurch health services were seeing what they called a “concerning influx in serious health complications relating to people taking psychoactive substances”.

Hawkins has been held in custody since her arrest on October 5. She pleaded not guilty and elected a judge-alone trial on October 11, but changed her plea at the Christchurch District Court today and admitted the charge.

It states that she possessed a non-approved psychoactive substance with intent to supply it to other people.

Defence counsel Rachel Wood said after the hearing before Judge Craig Thompson: “Although the police have referred to the synthetic drug situation in the summary of facts, they have not charged her with any offence relating to the provision of the substance that has caused the admissions to hospital.”

The judge remanded Hawkins in custody to January 16 for sentence. He ordered a pre-sentence report with an assessment for her suitability for a home detention sentence.

Hawkins also admitted a breach of a sentence of supervision.

Police said that over a two-week period, 19 people had been admitted to Christchurch Hospital with “severe synthetic toxicity”, and two remained in intensive care when the summary of facts was written.

Symptoms included hallucinations, seizures, aggression, paranoia, anxiety, and overheating.

At the same time, another four people were suspected to have died from psychoactive substance consumption and many more deaths were being investigated with consumption of the substance as the suspected cause.

About 9pm on October 4, police executed a search warrant on Hawkins’ address in Phillipstown, while she was at home.

They found 2.24g of synthetic cannabis, $145 in cash, and small sealable plastic bags. Hawkins admitted it was hers, but said it was for personal use.

The police want an order to destroy all the drug-related items and seizure of the cash.

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A judge continued to refer to Rakesh Kumar Chawdhry as “Dr Chawdhry” at his latest sentencing because even after 13 indecency convictions he has still not been struck off.

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish said no disciplinary action had yet been taken against the 63-year-old. He had not been been formally struck off as a registered medical practitioner.

“You are still entitled to be called by that qualification,” she said as she sentenced him on two further indecent assault charges which he admitted in August.

Judge Farish added two months to the sentence Chawdhry received at his sentencing in February after he was convicted of indecent assaults and one sexual violation relating to 10 male complainants. He was convicted of 11 charges and jailed for more than four years.

The publicity about the trial and the sentencing prompted two further men to come forward and make complaints. These involved men aged 26 and 28 who were seen by Chawdhry at the Amberley Medical Centre in 2011 and the Riccarton Clinic in 2013.

The offending involved Chawdhry touching them in what the judge ruled was a “sexualised” way during sexually-transmitted infection checks.

Victim impact statements from the two men described feelings of embarassment and shame. One said he had not talked about the indecent assault with anyone for years because he was ashamed that he had not done anything about it at the time or afterwards.

The judge noted that at the time of the sentencing in February she had received 50 references supporting Chawdhry from patients an colleagues in New Zealand, America, and India.

She said his remorse was “difficult to ascertain” but she had read his letter about the steps he had taken while in custody, including psychological assistance and counselling. But she added: “I see you still have quite a lot of work to do.”

The Parole Board would want to see a big shift in his attitude to his culpability before they considered his release.

Judge Farish said her calculation at the February sentencing had been slightly wrong, and adjusted it to four years two months, and then added on a further two months for the latest two indecent assaults.

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A North Island-based company has admitted discharging contaminants which the Canterbury Regional Council said killed 2000 eels and fish in Belfast in April.

Polarcold Stores Ltd, which is listed at an address in Hastings, pleaded guilty before Environment Court Judge Jane Borthwick at the Christchurch Justice Precinct today.

It admitted breaching the Resource Management Act by discharging ammonia contaminated water or ammonia onto land in circumstances which may result in the contaminant entering water, when it had no permission under the regional plan or a resource consent.

The case was remanded to December 19, when defence counsel Pru Steven said the company would enter a plea to a second charge alleging a discharge of ammonia gas from industrial or trade premises into air. She said the company needed more time to consider that charge.

The case will then go to February 20, with the company still in talks with the Canterbury Regional Council about whether a summary of facts can be agreed or a disputed facts hearing will be required.

No summary of facts was released at today’s hearing.

The offences are alleged to have occurred at Belfast on April 3, after hundreds of dead eels were found in Kaputone Creek in Belfast, in Christchurch’s northern suburbs. The council said after investigating the source of the contamination that 1990 eels and about 30 fish were dead.

The eels ranged from 15cm up to 1m in length.

The dead eels and fish were found along a 4km stretch of the stream.

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A man whose shotgun threat caused a lockdown at the WINZ Sydenham branch has been jailed for two months.

As soon as Bevan Peter Brown, 40, is released before Christmas, he will go to Work and Income New Zealand to ask for help to go to Palmerston North where he can live and get support from his family.

The man – a Salvation Army hostel resident – made his threat on October 30 and has been in custody for the last two weeks after failing to turn up at court and getting arrested.

He pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to charges of threatening to injure WINZ staff with intent to frighten them, and breaching his bail.

He waived his right to a pre-sentence report and Judge David Saunders sentenced him immediately, reminding him that it was four years since Russell John Tully shotgunned and killed two people and wounded another in the Ashburton WINZ office.

“The sort of threat you made is something that doesn’t go down well with WINZ staff, particularly if you recall the incident that happened in Ashburton, for which an individual is now serving a long sentence.” Tully was jailed for 27 years in the High Court at Christchurch.

Defence counsel Jessica Bibby acknowledged there were mental health issues, and Brown was on medication for bipolar disorder. After threatening on the phone to “blow a hole in the roof”, Brown had been to the Sydenham office to apologise, she said.

Police prosecutor Edana Sparks said that about 1.55pm on October 30, Brown was at the Salvation Army hostel in Addington when he phoned the WINZ Contact Centre in Hamilton to ask about a quote that had been given to him for clothing and a tent.

“During the conversation, the defendant became abusive towards the call taker and stated that he would get a shotgun and go to a WINZ building Christchurch and shoot staff,” she said.

The WINZ building in Sydenham was then placed on lockdown. Brown told police he was angry when he made the threat that he would get a shotgun and blow a hole in the ceiling.

Judge Saunders noted Brown had a conviction for threatening to kill in 2012, and a later aggravated robbery for which he was given “serious jail time”. He had recently been convicted of disorderly behaviour.

He jailed Brown for two months, with release conditions that he undertake treatment and counselling to reduce the risk of reoffending. He will have to report to Community Probation within 72 hours of his release in December and get WINZ help moving to Palmerston North to settle there, with family support close by.

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The Court of Appeal has rejected Sainey Marong’s claim that he was insane when he murdered Renee Duckmanton in May 2016.

Marong, a Gambian-born butcher who lived in Ilam at the time, is serving a life sentence with a minimum 18-year non-parole term for the murder of the 22-year-old who was doing sex work along Manchester Street.

Marong had claimed at the time of the trial that he was insane at the time of the killing, which had involved him strangling Miss Duckmanton and then setting her body alight on a roadside at Rakaia.

He had admitted killing her, claiming he had strangled her as he tried to shut her up when the argued after having sex. The Court of Appeal said the Christchurch High Court jury plainly rejected this account, which might have precluded murderous intent.

After the appeal hearing in October, it released its decision today dismissing the appeal.

The judges said Marong’s internet browsing history indicated that the offence was planned. He had researched kidnapping, information about local sex workers, how to render someone unconscious, necrophilia, and destroying DNA traces by burning a body.

The defence case was that Marong, who is diabetic, had not been taking his insulin and was accordingly likely to be hypoglycaemic, with the result that he did not understand the nature and quality of what he was doing.

Expert evidence about insanity was given by a forensic psychologist and a consultant psychiatrist who were both called by the Crown. Both were firmly of the opinion that Mr Marong was sane. One gave an opinion that Marong was prone to exaggerate symptoms, was histrionic and had a strong propensity to manipulate and deceive, and the other’s opinion was that Marong’s symptoms were likely malingered or fabricated. Nothing about the evidence of his behaviour about the time of the killing suggested that he was in a state of delirium.

At sentencing, the judge sentenced Mr Marong on the basis that the murder was premeditated, and likely committed in pursuit of a depraved sexual fantasy.

The Appeal Court said that the question of whether Mr Marong was in fact insane was for the jury to answer. To succeed on appeal on this ground, he must show that their answer was unreasonable.

The judges stated: “Proof of a disease of the mind usually rests on expert evidence. Mr Marong’s calculated behaviour was plainly abnormal in the extreme, but the only expert evidence about his state of mind was unequivocal; he suffered from no disease of the mind, and was able to understand the nature and quality of his acts and to distinguish right from wrong.”

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A 27-year-old says he robbed a Bryndwr service station because he owed a drug debt to a gang.

Paul Graham Alan Rogers was jailed for two years five months for the August 24 robbery of the Challenge Service Station on Blighs Road – the first of two robberies of that station on the same weekend.

Rogers had pleaded guilty to the armed robbery charge, and appeared for sentence before Judge David Saunders in the Christchurch District Court after a remand in custody.

Rogers covered his face as a disguise and took a claw hammer before going to the service station at 8.20pm.

He threatened the sole attendant, a man in his 50s, and demanded cash and cigarettes. He left with $1520 cash and cigarettes worth $490.

A police investigation quickly found him, and he made full admissions in an interview.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger urged the judge to grant sentence reductions for Rogers’ remorse, early guilty plea, and an offer from his mother to pay the full reparations of $1740.

She said that Rogers had held down significant employment, and had plenty of support from his family and from the community. If he had asked for support for the problem he was facing, he would have got it, she said. She urged the judge to reduce the jail term to two years which would allow home detention to be considered.

“Nobody knew the depth of the despair he was in,” she said. “He was in a dark place, and did not want to burden anybody else.”

Crown prosecutor Sophia Bicknell Young said Rogers’ face had been covered and he had been holding a weapon. It would have been very frightening for the victim.

Judge Saunders said the victim had been scared, but had been able to return to his work.

He said Rogers had explained that he felt under pressure to pay a drug debt to a gang.

Probation assessed him as a low risk of reoffending, but noted his lack of problem solving skills.

“Clearly, you now realise there were alternative ways of solving the problem you were in because of the drug debt,” said the judge.

He ordered reparation and jailed Rogers for two years five months – beyond the range for home detention – but said he hoped that the Parole Board would see him as an excellent prospect for rehabilitation into the community. They might consider him, after serving about 10 months, for a release under residential restrictions, which is like home detention.

He expected that while in prison, Rogers would do programmes relating to problem solving and alcohol and drug rehabilitation.

Two days after Rogers’ robbery, three people robbed the same service station of cash and cigarettes.

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After a young man he knew took his car, sold it, and cleaned out his child’s savings for drugs purchases, Tumahana John Ponga administered some rough justice.

Forty-five-year-old father-of-five Ponga punched the young man at a house, and then “took it outside” where he punched him several more times.

The 20-year-old assault victim received soft tissue damage to his face and a broken nose, and Ponga has been held in custody since March.

He admitted charges of intentionally injuring the young man, and his own partner in a separate incident.

Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave today imposed a sentence which will see him released straight away since he has served the equivalent of an 18-month prison term in custody on remand.

He now faces a sentence of 100 hours of community work and two years of intensive supervision. Judge Neave will get regular reports on his progress during that time.

Defence counsel April Kelland said Ponga had used his time on remand well to do a Stopping Violence programme, first aid course, and courses to develop other skills.

She handed up letters from both victims, who Judge Neave said showed “a significant degree of forgiveness”. The young man acknowledged his own role in the incident, which resulted in him being found injured in the Hororata Domain a year ago.

Mrs Kelland told the court the 20-year-old had been well treated by Ponga, but had taken Ponga’s car without permission, drove it into the city to get drugs and had sold the car.

He had then used bank cards to clean money out of the family’s account, including money from Ponga’s son’s holiday work and his birthday money. The money was gone.

As a father of five, Ponga “did not have a lot to come and go on” anyway, she said. Ponga then assaulted the younger man.

Judge Neave said that assault involved Ponga taking the law into his own hands, which was “always treated severely”.

In the other incident, Ponga squeezed his partner’s throat for about five seconds at a party when she tried to pull him away from a dispute. As they drove home, he grabbed her by the hair and punched her, breaking her jaw. She needed surgery to insert five plates.

He noted Ponga’s history included two aggravated robberies in the 1990s, but little offending since then. He had done considerable work in the community and it was a pity that his latest offending made him utterly unsuitable as a role model for young men.

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