Final suppression was granted for a 53-year-old man on a charge of sexual grooming of an underage boy, because the boy had registered on the R18 homosexual dating site Grindr.

Judge Kevin Phillips said the 15-year-old would not co-operate with police and did not want the man charged by them.

Defence counsel Phil Shamy said the boy was angry and anti the police. He was also the initiator of a lot of the comments made on Grindr, and he was much older and worldly wise than his age suggested.

He said his client was not a serious sex offender, just a foolish careless man who made a mistake and did not take the steps he should have done to verify the boy’s age.

His pre-sentence report said he was a low risk of re-offending, and he had lost his job when he was convicted.

Judge Phillips said in June 2017 the man had communicated with the boy and persuaded him to meet him, with the intent to have a sexual involvement with him.

He said some factors took this case out of the normal run, and the boy deleted all messages on his computer before the police, who were called by his mother, arrived.

He took no part in their prosecution of the man, but had put himself on the website and made himself available to what occurred, Judge Phillips said.

The man had good character, and he was not trawling looking for young people, he said, and the boy’s attitude and involvement changed things.

He sentenced the man to three months’ community detention, with a curfew from 8pm to 5am, 150 hours’ community work, and supervision for nine months.

He is not to have contact with people under the age of 16 without supervision, but Judge Phillips did not order reparation for the young boy because of the role he had played.

He then gave the final name suppression order, and said he had never had a similar case before him. He said the man would not be put on the Child Sex Offenders’ register.

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Two young dairy robbers, one armed with an imitation pistol, said they had been threatened by senior and intimidating gang members, and had to pay back a debt they owed for drugs.

Naish’N Morgan, and Rubi Jayde Barker, both 20-year-olds, were sentenced on a charge of aggravated robbery of the Dallington Discount Dairy on January 29.

Two other offenders, one armed with a knife in the incident, were dealt with through the Youth Court.

Defence counsel for Barker, Phillip Allan, said Barker thought the plan to rob the dairy was not going to involve violence, and the imitation firearm was for intimidation so they could get in and get out in a hurry.

He said their motivation was that they were under pressure from senior and intimidating gang members, who had threatened friends, flatmates, and family.

Barker was 19 at the time, had written a letter of apology to the victim, and asked for a restorative justice meeting, but the victim declined.

Mr Allan said Barker was quite affected when they read the victim impact statement.

Barker had made significant efforts at rehabilitation, and had a probation officer as a support person.

Tom Stevens said Morgan had had a difficult upbringing, with no assistance or guidance, and suffered from  foetal alcohol syndrome. He said associations and alliances in prison could send him on the wrong path, and change him for the worse.

Judge Kevin Phillips said three of the four offenders walked into the dairy on Avonside Drive with their faces covered. The other person stayed outside as a lookout.

They swept tobacco products into a carry bag and some energy drinks were taken. When they were leaving the building they were confronted by a man who had been at the house adjoining the dairy.

Morgan pointed the imitation pistol at him, then struck him in the head with it.

Everyone ran away in different directions, but were followed by members of the public, and all were located and arrested.

He said Morgan had no prior convictions, and Barker only had driving convictions.

The victim lost $700 business while the shop was shut up for the investigation, and it was the fourth time it had been robbed. The business was a family one, and the man was nervous and vulnerable, Judge Phillips said.

The robbery of small suburban dairies was prevalent in this Christchurch, he said, and this offending was planned and premeditated.

Morgan was read the first of the three strike warnings for repeat violent offenders, as Barker had already received the warning at the last appearance.

Judge Phillips said Morgan was of good character until he entered the shop, and he sentenced him to two years’ prison with leave to apply for home detention when an address became available. He also imposed an emotional harm reparation payment of $300.

Barker was remorseful and had worked hard on rehabilitation since the offending, Judge Phillips said.

The offender did not take a weapon and was not involved in any violence.

He imposed eight months’ home detention, 180 hours’ community work which can be converted to training, and emotional harm reparation of $300.

Both offenders will have to do programmes recommended to them by their probation officers.

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A 22-year-old who admits possession the mosque massacre video and the alleged shooter’s manifesto has been warned to prepare for his name suppression to be lifted when he is sentenced in September.

The man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of possession of the video, knowing it was objectionable, and he had earlier admitted possession of the manifesto that had been published online.

He pleaded guilty to possession of the video once the Crown agreed to reduce the charge from one of distributing the video which shows the shootings at the Deans Avenue mosque on March 15.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll remanded him in custody for possible sentencing today but decided against it after two further issues arose.

The man has also admitted a charge of disqualified driving – his 11th – and Community Probation had also filed an application to cancel an intensive supervision sentence he was serving in February because he had not been complying.

Judge O’Driscoll decided to set the sentencing for September 27, and asked for a pre-sentence report and submissions from defence counsel Clare Yardley about whether final name suppression should be granted.

He told the man: “If I were you, I would prepare myself for he possibility that you don’t get final suppression and your name will be published.”

The interim order was continued today.

Crown prosecutor Shivani Dayal said that bail was no longer opposed, and he was released today on strict conditions. The bail address, or any details of who he will live with, are suppressed.

He will have to abide by a night-time curfew and go to the door if the police arrive to check on him.

He is only allowed to access the internet if under direct supervision of a named person.

He is not allowed to go within 200m of any mosque, not possess firearms, and not associate with three named persons.

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A 14-year-old boy charged with the arson of the derelict historic building Antonio Hall in Riccarton Road has absconded on bail and is on the run.

Youth Court Judge Jane McMeeken today issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to turn up for a midday court appearance.

He has been missing for several days.

Judge McMeeken said Christchurch was a small place and it was likely he would be found, but she urged him to contact his youth advocate Siobhan McNulty to arrange another court appearance.

Automatic suppressions apply to Youth Court appearances, including the name of the alleged offender, and Judge McMeeken imposed additional suppressions for today’s hearing.

The submissions by the youth advocate and the police were all suppressed as well as the judge’s discussions with the boy’s mother, who was in court.

The hall was damaged by a fire which began about 5.20pm on Friday July 12, when about 50 firefighters fought the blaze.

It had already deteriorated through years of neglect when the February 2011 earthquake caused structural damage. It was understood there were long term plans to convert the building into a hotel.

When the boy appeared in Youth Court the following Monday, the police did not oppose his release on bail, with conditions, for the two-week remand.

He entered no plea and was remanded to today. In the meantime, a Family Group Conference was to be held to decide how to handle a charge of theft of a cellphone, which he admitted.

He was due to appear in Youth Court about midday today, but Judge McMeeken said there was no appearance and no excuse and an arrest warrant was issued.

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A jury has rejected a 20-year-old man’s claim that a woman consented to him getting into her bed for a sexual encounter at university accommodation, and he now awaits sentencing for sexual violation.

The jury returned a unanimous verdict after about three hours of deliberations on the fourth day of the trial of Henry Hamish Millar.

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish remanded Millar for sentencing on October 4. A pre-sentence report will be prepared.

Millar did not give evidence in the trial, nor call any witnesses, but relied on his explanations at the time – including a statement to the police – and cross-examination and a detailed closing address by his counsel, James Rapley QC.

He said he met the woman at a hotel earlier in the night on July 21-22, 2018, and was then with a group at the university accommodation where she had gone to her bed to sleep and eat pasta after a night out drinking. The group went into her room at one stage.

Millar claimed when he went back to her room soon after, she had agreed to him getting into the bed and moved over to make room for him before they began sexual activity.

The woman said in evidence she woke to find Millar violating her with his finger, hurting her, and she ran crying from the bedroom.

Mr Rapley asked for bail for Millar pending sentencing, because he was aged only 20, had great family support, there had been no problems while he was on bail awaiting trial, and a non-custodial sentence was a possibility.

But Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said she took issue with any suggestion the offence was at the lower end of the sentencing scale. “This was a vulnerable complainant, who was taken advantage of in her bedroom while she was asleep,” she said.

She said Millar had taken the case to trial so there would be no sentence reduction for a guilty plea.

Judge Farish decided to allow bail but she warned Millar it was not a guarantee that she would not send him to jail. “Don’t be under any illusion – if the law is such that I have to send you to jail, I will send you to jail,” she said.

She thanked the counsel for the way in which they had conducted the trial. She also thanked the jury, telling them: “I can tell from the looks on your faces that it has not been an easy exercise.”

Millar was taken out of court after the verdict and he was wiping his eyes and face when he was brought back for the sentencing date to be set. Judge Farish read him a first strike warning under the system that imposes heavier penalties on serious violent offenders who commit further crimes

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A judge has refused to accept any medical documents offered by a man who has twice been charged with providing false material to the courts.

The 40-year-old man had offered medical certificates to support mental health concerns when he argued for name suppression to be granted.

The Crown dropped two forgery charges dating back up to five years, against the man today, without the man or his lawyer being present.

They said they were dropping the charges because it was in the public interest and not because of any “evidential insufficiency”.

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie had the matter called again later to make the name suppression application.

The first forgery charge related to a bail hearing in November 2014, when the man handed in a declaration of profession and consecration as a minister or pastor, which caused a judge to regard the document as if it were genuine.

When its validity was called into question, the man was charged with forgery and went on trial, but the trial was stopped because of the another judge’s concern that a further forged document had been provided to the trial in support of the first document.

The man was charged with that forgery as well.

When the man offered medical certificates in court for the suppression application, Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave said today: “I am not prepared to accept any written documents from Mr -.”

Mr McKenzie then asked for the application to be adjourned for a hearing at which the doctor could be called to give evidence in person, or by video-link.

After further discussion, it was decided that if either Mr McKenzie or the Crown prosecutor Karyn South could witness the documents being signed by the doctor then they could be admitted.

The hearing was adjourned to August 16 for that to be done.

The man has name suppression in the meantime.

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A man admitted setting three separate fires in his room in a back-packers hostel after he had tampered with the fire escape door.

In the Christchurch District Court, Maui Kereopa Rangitoheriri pleaded guilty to arson of the Point Break Backpackers in New Brighton on December 7.

Rangitoheriri was staying in a room, and about 34 other people were staying in the building. He was seen tampering with the fire escape door and when approached by a staff member became aggressive and verbally abusive.

He started banging loudly on the walls in this room, and making a lot of noise, and then a fire alarm went off.

The owner of the business disabled the fire alarm, and saw the panel was showing a fault with the sensor in Rangitoheriri’s room.

She went to the room and saw the fire sensor was hanging off the ceiling, and Rangitoheriri was ripping up posters from the walls and piling up bunches of toilet paper on the bed.

He left the room and downstairs he piled up bunches of toilet paper on top of some old paint tins, and a bottle of flammable solvent.

He returned to his room and set fire to it in three separate locations.

The owner returned to his room to repair the broken sensor and found the fire blazing. She had to evacuate the building by knocking on all the bedroom doors as the fire alarm was still disabled.

She received burns to her head and suffered smoke inhalation.

Judge Tom Gilbert remanded Rangitoheriri in custody for sentencing on August 23.

Defence counsel Kathy Basire said Rangitoheriri wanted to attend a restorative justice meeting with the woman if it could be arranged. She said there had been a psychiatric report done on him.

Judge Gilbert asked for a pre-sentence report, an alcohol and drug assessment, and an assessment to decide whether Rangitoheriri was suitable for a home detention sentence.

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An 18-year-old has admitted manslaughter for a Greymouth stabbing incident in which he had been threatened and a lighter held close to his face.

Lewis Floyd McKenzie was aged 17 at the time of the incident in which 41-year-old Cyrus Alexis Alupis was killed.

Justice Rob Osborne remanded McKenzie on electronically monitored bail for sentencing in Christchurch or Greymouth on September 6, after the Crown agreed to accept a plea to manslaughter. Until today, McKenzie had faced a charge of murder.

A decision is still to be made about the venue for the sentencing. The victim’s family do not live in Greymouth, and were watching today’s hearing by video-link from Auckland.

Justice Osborne ordered a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report on McKenzie.

Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes told the court McKenzie and an associate had been driving around the West Coast about 1.15am on July 30, 2018, after smoking several cannabis joints over the previous hours.

They stopped to speak to two men they did not know who were walking on Tainui Street, Greymouth.

One of the men was Mr Alupis. They agreed to give the men a ride to Cobden, across the river that flows through Greymouth, and the pair got in the back of the car.

The two men became agitated because they could not find a bottle of vodka, and when the car pulled over Mr Alupis accused McKenzie of having the vodka and threatened to give him “a hiding”.

Mr Alupis slapped McKenzie in the face and punched the driver twice.

The driver tried to calm things down but Mr Alupis then held a lighter close to McKenzie’s cheek.

McKenzie wasn’t burnt but got a fright and moved to unclip his seatbelt. Mr Alupis told him not to move or he would “smash” him.

McKenzie took a black handled steel knife about 30cm long which was nearby, and quickly got out of the car and moved to the rear passenger door as Mr Alupis pushed open his door to get out.

McKenzie then stabbed him twice and ran off. Mr Alupis fell back into the car. One wound was in the abdomen, and the other penetrated the chest cavity, immediately above the heart, nicking the aorta.

One of the other men drove Mr Alupis towards the hospital but he repeatedly tried to open the door and get out. When he was determined to get out, the man stopped the car on Cowper Street and Mr Alupis fell onto the road and began crawling to the footpath.

The man tried for several minutes to get him back into the car, without success and then drove off, leaving him on the road.

He was found soon after, alive but unconscious. Despite the efforts of medical staff he died soon after in hospital.

About 4.45am, McKenzie approached a staff member at a supermarket saying that he was being chased by gang members. Police were called because he was covered in blood.

A knife was found in a sheath in one of his socks.

Before the plea, McKenzie’s trial had been due to take place on the West Coast in September.

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Jury members have been offered counselling after returning a clean sweep of guilty verdicts in a three-week sexual abuse and violence trial.

Justice Gerald Nation told them that the court would make someone available for confidential discussions with them if they wished to seek assistance.

He said: “Particularly at certain times of this trial, it is likely you found the trial process quite harrowing.”

The jury returned 42 guilty verdicts against the 39-year-old man who remained impassive in the dock as the verdicts were read. His name suppression has been continued.

Justice Gerald Nation signalled that the court would consider an open-ended sentence of preventive detention and he has ordered the two necessary health assessors’ reports to gauge his level of risk.

He set the sentencing for December 13 and asked for a pre-sentence report and victim impact statements from the woman and three children who were complainants alleging abuse stretching over about 13 years at various locations in the northern South Island.

The man had admitted one assault with a weapon as the trial began and he was discharged on one sexual violation charge at the end of the Crown case last week. Some rape charges were combined into one charge during the trial.

The man was found guilty of six charges of intentionally injuring his victims, three of assaulting females, seven assaults with a weapon, four assaults with intent to injure, wounding with intent to injure, nine sexual violation, three rape, six of indecent assault on a child, indecent assault, assault with intent to commit sexual violation, and kidnapping.

The defence had claimed that the allegations had been fabricated by the victims.

As the trial began, Crown prosecutor Ruth Harcourt read the jury an agreed statement about the man earlier being convicted four times for assaulting another woman, including choking her until she could not breathe.

The Crown allegations at the trial this month including whipping woman with a length of hose after arguments, raping the woman and a girl, indecently assault the girls or doing indecent acts with them, and holding the woman’s head under water.

The Crown also told of the man beating a teenage boy when he accidentally knocked over one of the man’s cannabis plants, and making the boy stay in an unlocked shed for three days with a blanket and water but no food after he took cannabis to school and caused a police raid.

The man did not give evidence at his trial, but the defence called a series of witnesses to say they had witnessed no violence in their dealings with the man and the victims.

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A mother of three was sentenced to home detention and community work for not telling the Ministry of Social Development that she was living with her children’s father while a $176,677 welfare fraud built up.

Tamala Georgette Kissel, 31, was sentenced on six charges of dishonestly using documents, and one charge of obtaining money by deception over a period of nine years.

Defence counsel Tony Greig said Kissel was diagnosed with depression, and although the offending was against the taxpayer and community, she needed to be home to look after her family.

The prosecutor for the Ministry of Social Development, Lucy Collinson, said they were not seeking reparation as they would use their civil debt recovery powers to recoup some of the $176,677 overpayment.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said the failure to disclose the relationship meant she was given an overpayment of $134,000, but she also received reduced income related rent at the Housing NZ property she lived in. Kissel’s pre-sentence report said she used the money to buy clothes and groceries, and she had no drug, alcohol or violence related issues.

Judge O’Driscoll said Kissel was a valued employee, and her daily life of depression and anxiety was a significant factor in her offending.

He sentenced her to eight months’ home detention, and 250 hours’ community work so that she could put something back into the community for what she had taken out.

Judge O’Driscoll said Kissel was to complete budgeting, counselling, and any other programme recommended by her probation officer.

Kissel was first given a sickness benefit, but was transferred to a domestic purposes benefit when she had her first child. That benefit became Sole Parent Support and she had two more children, but told the ministry that she was single and the father was “just a friend”.

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Two terrified sex workers thought they were going to die or be seriously assaulted when they heard they were being driven to the Barbadoes Street cemetery after one of them provided services in central Christchurch.

The two women were in shock when they were left on the side of the road near the cemetery after being indecently assaulted and having the money taken off one of them that she she had earlier been paid for having sex with Richard Manoa Edwards.

Twenty-nine-year-old Edwards, of Richmond, today pleaded guilty to the charge of theft and two indecent assaults, on the day his Christchurch District Court jury trial was due to begin.

Judge Paul Kellar remanded him on continued electronic bail for sentencing on October 2, and gave him a first strike warning.

The judge asked for a pre-sentence report that will consider his suitability for home or community detention, but he warned that was no an indication of the likely sentence.

He also referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting with the two victims. The referral is required by the legislation even though the police officer in charge indicated that the two women did not wish to meet Edwards.

Defence counsel Serina Bailey said Edwards was willing to meet the victims and would be able to pay them emotional harm reparations.

Crown prosecutor Kerry White said the incident began about 3.40am on August 12, 2018, when the two women were approached by two men in a Subaru Legacy while they were working along Manchester Street.

One of the men was Edwards who negotiated a price with one of the women for her to provide sexual services. Both women got into the car, along with Edwards and his associate, and they drove to a Peterborough Street where the sex was provided.

Edwards then negotiated for further services which were provided in the back of the car. The two women then got into the back of the car, which was being driven by Edwards’ associate. They expected to be driven back to Manchester Street, as they had asked.

Edwards sat in the front, and indicated with his hand that the victim should drive past the Manchester Street corner. He put a yellow bandanna over the lower half of his face and demanded to know where his money was, from the woman he had had sex with.

“The defendant’s voice and demeanour changed dramatically and he became incredibly hostile,” said the prosecutor.

The woman told him she did not have his money. He then asked the second woman, and she said she did not have his money either.

The first woman became hysterical and was crying, and asked where they were being taken to.

Edwards indicated to his associate to keep on driving and head to the cemetery. Both victims were terrified and thought they were going to die or be seriously assaulted, the Crown prosecutor said.

They parked near Willow Street, across the Avon River from the cemetery, where Edwards said he was going to search the women. Both were crying and saying they did not take the money. Edwards and the women got out of the car.

Edwards grabbed the $70 from the hand of the woman who had earlier been paid for having sex with him.

Edwards then rubbed his hands all over the second woman’s body, fondling her breasts, and put his hand under her dress and rubbed his hand over her pants. He then touched the first woman, rubbing his hands all over her body.

The men then left in the car, leaving the two women shocked on the roadside. As they walked back to a car they had parked in Manchester Street, the women called the police and Edwards was spoken to six weeks later. He denied the offending.

Edwards was originally charged with kidnapping, sexual violation, indecent assault, and robbery. He pleaded guilty today when the charges were reduced to indecent assault and theft of the $70.

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The Crown says its case is “overwhelming” against two men with Mongrel Mob patches who allegedly carried out an armed robbery seeking drugs and money at a Sydenham house.

But the defence says their identity is in question, and the jury has been asked to keep an open mind until all the evidence is heard in the week-long trial in the Christchurch District Court.

Petuera Clarke, 32, and Levi Adam Bartlett, 31, both deny the aggravated robbery charge, and Clarke also denies charges of unlawful possession of a shotgun and ammunition.

Counsel for Bartlett, Nikita Mitskevitch, said in the defence opening statement that Bartlett denied being involved in the offending and the issue would be whether the Crown could satisfy the jury that he did take part.

Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett said the incident took place at 2.50pm on June 4, 2018, when a man was visiting a friend’s address in Sydenham. When there was a knock at the door, the friend opened the door to find two men with Mongrel Mob patches standing there, armed with a hammer and a shotgun.

He tried to shut the door but they pushed their way in. The friend made his escape, but the intruders went into the lounge where the visitor was sitting.

The Crown says one of them struck him with the hammer four or five times on the face, head, and collarbone, and he was struck on the back of the head with the butt of the shotgun.

The man received a broken nose, a gash to the wrist, and injuries to his face and lip which needed stitches.

They demanded drugs and money, but when there were none, they took his jacket, car keys, watch, and cellphone and left with a Sony speaker and laptop computer from the address.

One of the men was seen getting into a red station wagon nearby, and the witness phoned 111 and gave the registration plate details to the police.

The car was registered to Clarke and 30 minutes after the home invasion, the police arrived at his address in nearby Huxley Street. Clarke was arrested as he allegedly tried to flee through the rear of the property.

He said only his “missus” was inside, but Bartlett was found hiding behind a shower curtain in the bathroom.

The robbery victim’s car keys were found in Bartlett’s pocket.

The red station wagon was found in the garage with its bonnet still warm and dripping water from the rain. A shotgun matching the description of the one used in the robbery was found in the passenger footwell with four live rounds.

Inside the house were the stolen laptop and speaker, the victim’s watch, and also a hammer matching the description of the one used in the robbery.

Clothing with Mongrel Mob insignia was found at the address.

Clarke’s fingerprints were found on the laptop, and Bartlett’s fingerprints were found in the station wagon. Bartlett told police he had found the car keys on the ground.

“The case against the defendants is overwhelming,” said Mr Mallett.

The trial is continuing.

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A 14-year-old boy has admitted the arson of the derelict historic building Antonio Hall in Riccarton Road.

The teenager appeared in the Youth Court today and was remanded on supported bail to September 17, for a family group conference to be held on how the case should be handled.

The conference is expected to present an agreed plan to the next Youth Court appearance.

In Youth Court terms, the boy has “not denied” the charge of arson of the old building which had been neglected since it suffered structural damage in the Christchurch earthquakes.

The boy had been arrested soon after the fire which began about 5.20pm on Friday July 12, when about 50 firefighters fought the blaze.

He was granted bail when he appeared in the Youth Court the following Monday, but he absconded during the remand and Judge Jane McMeeken issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to attend a court date last week.

She urged him to contact his youth advocate Siobhan McNulty to arrange another court date, warning that he would be found in a small place like Christchurch.

He was not in custody for his appearance at Youth Court today, when Judge McMeeken granted him supported bail with conditions that will allow him to continue with education.

She suppressed all the submissions made to the court, including most of the conditions of his bail.

Firefighters took about three hours to fight the blaze and save as much of the hall as they could, but about 30 percent of the building was lost. Damage was extensive, especially to the top floor and the roof. They managed to save the hall’s chapel and the east and west wings.

The hall, which had 279 rooms, had been used as a Catholic seminary for three decades and it was later used as a boarding house for students and the underprivileged. It is understood there were long term plans to convert it into a hotel.

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A teenager has been jailed for 26 months for the street robbery of a student nurse that ramped up safety concerns in the area around Christchurch Hospital 16 months ago.

The student nurse received a cut to her leg after she was tackled to the ground by Tane Faatafa on Hagley Avenue soon after she finished her shift at the hospital.

She was walking to her car which was parked near Hagley Park when he robbed her of her handbag which contained a laptop computer and her study notes.

Faatafa, now aged 19, told police he carried out the robbery because he wanted money to buy synthetic cannabis.

Faatafa had been due to stand trial, but after talks between defence counsel Moana Cole and prosecutor Will Taffs, he agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges.

He admitted charges of robbery and unlawful possession of a filleting knife which was found in his pocket. The charges were reduced from armed robbery and wounding the victim.

Judge Gilbert called for a stand-down probation report – prepared almost immediately with Faatafa in custody and his father also at court to speak to the officer about his background – and sentenced him a few hours later. Faatafa has no previous convictions.

Faatafa has been in custody since his arrest 16 months ago and is expected to be quickly brought before the Parole Board for his release to be considered. His sentence included time for a commercial burglary in which alcohol and money were taken.

The New Zealand Nursing Organisation raised concerns in 2015 about the lack of safe carparking for afternoon staff at Christchurch Hospital. Members started a petition asking hospital managers to provide safe and adequate car parking options after a series of incidents, including one where a masked man approached a worker from behind and pressed what may have been a firearm into the back of her head.

Mr Taffs said the incident involving Faatafa took place about 10.30pm on April 19, 2018, when the woman left the hospital and walked south along Hagley Avenue. Faatafa appeared intoxicated as he walked towards her, so she crossed the road, away from the park and called her partner on her cellphone.

As they passed each other, Faatafa called out, “What are you looking at?”

The woman continued walking, but Faatafa covered his face with a black mask and turned and ran straight at her. As she turned towards him, he knocked her to the ground.

Faatafa used his knees to pin her to the ground and punched her in the face and head 10 times. She screamed for him to let her go.

The woman’s boyfriend was able to hear the attack on the cellphone.

Mr Taffs said: “The defendant had a yellow-handled filleting knife in his jacket pocket. The victim sustained a 2cm wound but it is accepted by the Crown that he did not deliberately use the knife.”

Faatafa grabbed her handbag, causing the straps to break, and then ran away leaving the woman lying on the ground. She got up and ran in the opposite direction.

A police patrol found Faatafa on Riccarton Avenue, fleeing the scene. He was found with the items he had taken from the student nurse, and the knife.

The woman received bruising and abrasions on her face, left shoulder, left hand, and neck. She received a 2cm wound to her right thigh which needed stitches.

Mr Taffs read the woman’s victim impact report which said the woman was suffering from emotional, physical, and mental problems.

She now needs sleeping tablets at night, but had bad dreams and replayed the attack. She had lost 2kg, and did not feel safe anywhere. She had to have the lights on and could not be left alone all night.

She said she thought she was going to be killed.

Ms Cole said Faatafa said it was a spontaneous attack, and he had always accepted what the woman said had happened, but did not agree with the level of the charge.

Faatafa’s pre-sentence report said he had had a sad childhood and difficult upbringing, and a very serious addiction that he needed to work on.

Judge Gilbert said that the woman lost her grandmother’s ring in the attack that has never been located.

He said the woman had been traumatised both physically and mentally, and he told Faatafa that what he had done had only taken a few seconds but obviously it had had a big impact.

He said because of Faatafa’s youth and lack of previous convictions, the prospects were good for rehabilitation, and it was not too late for him to turn his life around.

He sentenced him prison for two years and two months, and said he had already read him the first of the three strike warnings for repeat violent offenders. He did not make a reparation order because Faatafa would not be able to pay it.

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A 19-year-old who once planned a terrorist-style attack in Christchurch remains in custody after a series of intensive supervision breaches, but he has earned more NCEA credits and got his learner’s licence.

The teenager will stay in custody for another four weeks, after all the agencies involved in his case held a meeting to decide how to proceed.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll will then be given a proposal from the agencies, and asked to approve the next steps.

According to defence counsel Anselm Williams, the plan is likely to suggest a return to supervised accommodation where he has been living since his sentencing in February 2018, and one-on-one psychological counselling.

“That’s the most appropriate approach here,” said Mr Williams.

The teenager will remain at the Youth Wing of Christchurch Prison, where he told Judge O’Driscoll he had gained more credits towards literacy and numeracy qualifications for his NCEA.

He passed the theory test for his learner’s driving licence, scoring 34 right answers out of 35 questions. Judge O’Driscoll noted that he would not be able to use the licence for a while.

Mr Williams asked that charges relating to the series of breaches, which the teenager has admitted, carry on to the next judicial monitoring date which has been set for September 16.

The breaches include keeping cellphones, against the rules of his supervision, to watch pornography, and leaving the accommodation to go to a nearby Burger King where he withdrew money intending to get a taxi to see his mother. Issues had also arisen with his behaviour at the accommodation.

The teenager’s name is suppressed, and also the name of the accommodation. He is forbidden to have access to the internet because he was originally radicalised online.

Since beginning his intensive supervision sentence and counselling, he has said he has renounced extremism and people had nothing to fear from him.

The youth was arrested two years ago after a violent incident in Christchurch. He has been monitored by Judge O’Driscoll since February 2018 when he admitted planning to carry out the attack on a group of people in public, after converting to Islam and being radicalised online.

He originally planned to ram a car into a group of people and then stab them until the police killed him. He wrote a goodbye letter to his mother and then carried out a violent attack in 2017, making threats and causing damage. But he later told a psychologist that he “decided not to hurt anybody because he did not have the means to kill enough people”.

He admitted charges of wilful damage, shoplifting, threatening to kill or cause grievous bodily harm, and possession of an offensive weapon.

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A jury has rejected a Mongrel Mobster’s evidence that an unnamed associate had taken his car for a test drive at the time it was sighted at the scene of a home invasion robbery.

The Christchurch District Court jury returned four guilty verdicts against two men on trial after deliberating for 90 minutes and Judge Paul Kellar remanded both in custody for sentencing on November 20. He gave both of them a first strike warning.

Petuera Clarke, 32, gave evidence on the third day of the trial. Clarke and Levi Adam Bartlett, 31, both deny the aggravated robbery charge, and Clarke also denies charges of unlawful possession of a shotgun and ammunition.

Defence counsel signalled that they would seek cultural reports on the background of both men ahead of the sentencing.

Judge Kellar thanked the jury and said if he had been sitting as a judge-alone in the trial, he would have reached the same verdicts because the evidence had been overwhelming.

In its opening address to the jury on Monday, the Crown described the case against the men as “overwhelming” but defence counsel attacked elements of the evidence in their closing addresses.

The Crown said that two men armed with a hammer and shotgun, and wearing bandannas and Mongrel Mob patches had burst into a Sydenham house on the afternoon of June 4, 2019, and demanded drugs and money. There were no drugs or money there, but they beat a man with a hammer and took his his jacket, car keys, watch, and cellphone and left with a Sony speaker and laptop computer from the address.

A car leaving the scene was reported to the police who noted it was registered to Clarke who lived nearby in Huxley Street. They went to the house immediately and found the car in the garage, still warm and wet from the rain, with a shotgun and ammunition inside, and a laptop and speakers from the robbery inside the house.

Clarke gave evidence that he had been at home watching television that afternoon when an associate who wished to buy his car arrived and took it for a test drive. He arrived back and gave him a laptop and speakers as part payment for the car. He was going to return with the rest of the money.

He said he ran out the back of the property when the police arrived because he feared gang members were turning up, when he saw two men with guns go past the window.

His fingerprint was on the laptop because he had been given it by the associate who borrowed the car. He did not know the shotgun was in the car, he said.

Cross-examined by Crown prosecutor Sean Mallett, Clarke said he would not say the name of the associate, because that would be “narking”.

Donald Matthews, defence counsel for Bartlett, said descriptions of the robbers had been”quite vague” and there had been no reference to Bartlett’s distinctive facial tattoos.

For Clarke, Margaret Sewell said he had explained why his fingerprints were on the laptop – he had been given it by the associate. There had been no description that identified Clarke as being one of the home invaders. “If you look at the details (of the evidence), you will be left unsure,” she told the jury.

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A man charged in relation to one of the police pursuits at New Brighton on Wednesday has agreed to be remanded in custody at two brief appearances at the Christchurch District Court.

Marcel Sydney Geros, 27, will remain in custody over the weekend and appear before Judge Raoul Neave on Tuesday morning to make application for bail.

He has entered no plea to a charge of unlawfully getting into a car relating to the first alleged police pursuit. He was arrested after that pursuit and was not in a van that was taken soon afterwards which struck and killed a pedestrian.

Another man is still being sought by the police for that fatal pursuit.

Geros first appeared in court by video-link but asked for his hearing to be delayed because he wanted to speak to duty lawyer Trudi Aickin about “a change of circumstances”.

It was called again later in the morning, when the remand for the bail hearing next week was arranged. Geros consented to being held in custody.

Media applications to photograph Geros during his appearance were delayed for consideration at the Tuesday hearing.

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One of the men already charged with stupefying and sexually assaulting people faced 15 new charges in the Christchurch District Court today.

All four of the men charged with the offending have name suppression and that is to continue until their next appearance late in August when their lawyers will have to give reasons why the suppressions should continue.

Today’s charges are dated from July 2015 to November 2018 and allege the 36-year-old man offered to supply mdma, known as ecstasy twice, stupefied 10 people, indecently assaulted two women, and sexually violated a woman.

Judge Raoul Neave remanded all four on bail to August 30.

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The delivery driver for a major synthetic drugs ring operating in Christchurch will pay a $5000 fine today and fly home to his wife and child in China tomorrow.

Heng Fu, 35, accepted a sentencing indication in the Christchurch District Court, pleading guilty to a charge of supplying non-approved psychoactive substances.

The Crown accepted that he was the “courier” or delivery driver, carrying packages of raw product from the wholesalers to one of the men who has pleaded guilty during his trial in June and is awaiting sentencing.

Fu is the fifth person to plead guilty after the police’s 13-month Operation Sin investigation ended in May 2016. Two years after synthetic cannabis was made illegal, the police and Crown said the group was found with 173kg of it, which had a street value of between $3 million and $4 million.

Before the trial began in June, one man, Tong Liu pleaded guilty to charges of supplying synthetic drugs and money laundering $9900 which was sent back to China through an unlicensed money remitter. Liu was an employee at a Sockburn dairy and had sold the substance to customers over the counter. He was fined $10,000 and sentenced immediately so that he could go back to China.

Three others, a woman Fei He, 48, a man Sui Jun Zhou, 34, and another man, Xiwen Miao, pleaded guilty during the trial and have been remanded for sentencing on November 27.

Fu also admitted a Medicines Act charge and was convicted and discharged without penalty on that.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said the Crown had accepted that Fu had a limited role in the crime ring, and had only delivered raw product from the wholesale supplier to Miao. There was no evidence that he benefitted from it.

The Crown accepted that once sentenced, Fu would leave New Zealand to be reunited with his wife and child in China. He had booked tickets to fly to China on Saturday.

The money to pay his fine – an amount agreed at a sentencing indication hearing on Thursday – had been paid into defence counsel Nicola Hansen’s trust account overnight for immediate payment to the court.

Judge O’Driscoll told Fu: “I think to some extent you were under the influence of Fei He. I think you were following her instructions and directions.

“I think you were probably naïve in terms of understanding and appreciating both the consequences of your actions in getting involved with Miss He and and probably naïve in understanding the huge cost that synthetic cannabis has on the individuals who use it and on the community generally.”

He said he was not sure what the implications and consequences would be for Fu when he returned to China, but he suspected that he may not be allowed back into New Zealand.

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The police have dropped all charges against two men who were accused of being part of any armed robbery gang operating around Christchurch, citing not enough evidence.

The withdrawals leave just one man facing charges in relation to the series of raids during March and April – Crete Campaign Wikotu, 38 – who denies the charges and has been remanded in custody for a Crown case review hearing on October 9.

Three charges against Houlyo Steven Regan, 35, and Lucas Lynch, 18, were withdrawn today at the request of the Crown.

Prosecutor Sean Mallett told Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch that the Crown had reviewed the files. He said he had spoken to the Crown solicitor and the police officer in charge of the case and it had been decided there was not “evidential sufficiency” to continue with the charges.

He asked the judge to withdraw the charges rather than dismiss them so that the police could consider re-laying them if further evidence came to light.

Judge Couch withdrew the charges and told both men they were free to go.

Robberies by an armed gang took place at Fresh Choice Edgeware, Burger King Shirley, Countdown Northlands, Z Energy Carlton Corner, Kiwibank-Postshop Tower Junction, and Liquorland Fitzgerald Ave.

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