Reckless driver sentenced

Rūātoki man Greg Taitapanui, 26, has been sentenced to community detention and intensive supervision for a raft of charges relating to his driving in Rūātoki Valley on June 26.

He appeared for the sentencing in Whakatāne District Court virtually from a court in a different town.

Taitapanui drove his Mazda BT-50 ute recklessly on Rūātoki Valley Road after he failed to stop for police, according to court documents. He was disqualified from driving at the time.

Taitapanui previously pleaded guilty to the charges, in addition to wilful damage, driving while his licence was revoked, possession of an offensive weapon, and contravening a protection order.

Lawyer Whare Hika said the defendant’s risk of re-offending was assessed as high, and his risk to the victim of the protection order offending was medium, while his risk to the public was deemed to be low.

He endorsed a pre-sentencing report recommendation of intensive supervision and community detention.

An application was made under Section 94 of the Land Transport Act to have an otherwise mandatory disqualification substituted for a community-based sentence.

Police opposed the application and noted that Taitapanui was on a learner licence.

He is currently disqualified from driving until April.

Judge Louis Bidois disqualified Taitapanui from driving for an additional two years and sentenced him to community detention for four months with a curfew from 6pm to 7am, and 12 months’ intensive supervision.

He said road safety was compromised by the defendant’s driving.

Taitapanui must pay $250 in emotional harm reparations to the victim and $100 in reparations for a fence he damaged. He was ordered to forfeit the weapon.

Additional case review hearing

Lance Robinson has been remanded in custody for three weeks after his case review hearing was adjourned.

He has been in custody since May accused of dealing cannabis, common assault, indecent assault of a female aged between 12 and 16 and behaving threateningly.

Lawyer Paul Devoy said he was not in a position to progress the case review hearing scheduled for this week, due to difficulties contacting his client in prison.

Judge Bidois said progress needed to be made on the case with the defendant behind bars on remand.

Case review adjourned

A recent lawyer assignment has resulted in Waimaria Selwyn’s case being adjourned for three weeks.

Selwyn is charged with theft, possession of cannabis, unlawful possession of a pistol, wilful trespass, breaching release conditions and shoplifting.

She was remanded in custody to September 24 for case review hearing.

Bail declined

Whakatāne man Tommy Taitapanui, 27, was declined bail.

He was remanded in custody to next week, when he is expected to make an application for electronically monitored bail.

Taitapanui has pleaded not guilty to committing burglary with a weapon, being armed with a weapon with intent to commit burglary and three charges of burglary. On these he was remanded to a case review hearing on October 17.

He has since been charged with an additional burglary charge, possession of methamphetamine, possession of utensils for meth, possession of cannabis and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon.

Pleas are expected to the latter charges when he next appears in court.

Bail granted, charges denied

Jimmy-James Temoana-Hauwaho has been granted electronically monitored bail to an address in Kawerau.

He appeared in court by audio-visual link this week charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, unlawful possession of a prohibited firearm, entering agricultural land with intent, driving while his licence was revoked, giving false information to police, wilful damage, breaching supervision and breaching community work.

He denied the offending and was remanded to October 31 for a case review hearing.

Plea expected from first offender

A man before the courts for the first time is expected to enter a plea at his next appearance to a charge of indecent assault of a female older than 16.

The defendant has name suppression and was remanded to next month.

Additional case review hearing

A man who denies two sexual offences has been remanded on bail to a new case review hearing date.

The defendant, who has name suppression, denies charges of raping a girl aged between 12 and 16, and unlawful sexual connection.

He is due back before the court at the end of October.

Trial date set

A full day judge-alone trial has been scheduled on March 13 for Te Manawa Turei.

He has pleaded not guilty to assault of a child, impeding breathing or blood circulation, wilful damage, and two counts of assault on a person in a family relationship.

Turei's attendance in court was excused this week due to the administrative nature of the hearing.

A nominal date was set in January for the judge to check in on the progress of the case.

Meth fuelled man’s spree

Kawerau man Mane Heihei has been jailed for more than a year because of a crime spree on July 12.

The court heard that Heihei is 35 years old and has an extensive criminal history.

He appeared for sentencing having pleaded guilty to two burglaries, failing to stop for police, driving dangerously, possession of instruments for conversion (vice grips) and wilful damage.

Judge Bidois said Heihei went on a spree on a single day, and he was “out of control” because of his use of methamphetamine.

Heihei took two vehicles and caused significant damage when trying to avoid apprehension, the judge said.

According to court documents, Heihei burgled a private dwelling on Keepa Road in Coastlands and drove an Isuzu MU dangerously on State Highway 30. He also burgled a commercial workshop on Fletcher Avenue in Kawerau, damaging a Toyota Hilux ute belonging to the business.

Heihei was sentenced to 26 months’ prison and was disqualified from driving for six months. No reparation was ordered.

Pies, petrol, cosmetics, groceries and liquor

Ōpōtiki man Tui Maui has been released from police custody after being sentenced for a raft of shoplifting offences.

Maui, 42, spent four days in police custody while on remand for the charges, which included theft, driving with excess breath alcohol and six counts of shoplifting.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges.

The court heard this was Maui’s first time before the court on dishonesty charges, and his second time for drink driving. Meth was noted as a factor in the offending.

According to court documents, Maui’s offending started on August 20 when he stole $237 worth of cosmetics from a Kmart in Hamilton.

Four days later, he stole liquor valued at $85.98 from Liquorland Ōhope. He shoplifted alcohol of the same value from the same store the next day, and committed a petrol drive off worth $50 from Mobil in Ōpōtiki.

On August 26, Maui stole pies worth $20 from Caltex in Cambridge.

The next day he again stole alcohol worth $85.98 from Liquorland, and groceries valued at $180 from New World.

On August 29, he was arrested for driving with a breath alcohol level of 480 micrograms. The legal limit is 250 micrograms.

Maui was ordered to pay reparations for everything he stole, totalling $744.94.

He was also sentenced to 140 hours’ community work, 12 months’ supervision and was disqualified from driving for six months.

Indecent assaults denied

Three charges of indecent assault against a girl younger than 12 have been denied by a man who cannot be named because of suppression orders.

The defendant’s attendance was excused because of him being bailed to another region. No trial election was made but will be expected at his case review hearing in October.

Trial date set, bail varied

Vijesh Singh has received a trial date in the new year.

He has denied charges of assault with intent to injure, impeding breathing or blood circulation, four counts of assault on a person in a family relationship and one of failing to carry out his obligations regarding a search warrant.

His attendance was excused this week.

Lawyer Leonard Hemi sought a variation of his client’s bail, where the electronic monitoring would be suspended for the first weekend of every month to allow him to visit his children in another town.

Police disagreed with the conditions being relaxed.

Judge Bidois authorised approval for Singh to visit his children on the first weekend of every month. The defendant’s location will still be monitored.

Singh was remanded to March 27 for a judge-alone trial. The judge will check in on the case’s progress on January 16.

No treatment pathways for offender

Whakatāne man Terrance Gillard has been jailed for a year with no option to apply for home detention because of a lack of treatment pathways that would satisfy the court he could safely re-enter the community.

Gillard, 51, appeared by audio-visual link from prison for sentencing on charges of assault with intent to injure, assault on a person in a family relationship and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a folding metal chair.

Police prosecutor Jasmyn Pearson said all three of Gillard’s victims were female and his offending was viewed as being medium to serious.

She said on one occasion Gillard put a woman he knew – who was in a wheelchair – in a headlock and punched her four times.

Judge Bidois said the circumstances of the offending were worrying, with some of the assaults being unprovoked.

He noted that a lot of it came down to Gillard being disabled.

The court heard that Gillard had undiagnosed foetal alcohol syndrome and was “on the cusp” of an intellectual disability.

He was assessed under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act and found to be fit to participate in the court process.

Gillard was found to be a medium to high risk of reoffending and, without support, posed a risk to the community.

Pre-sentence report writers said he was genuinely remorseful about his offending, despite lacking perspective on the severity of what he did.

Lawyer Whare Hika said Gillard had unresolved issues, including the death of his mother, who was his main support.

He said the defendant had “fallen to bits” since her death.

The court heard that there was effectively no accommodation available to the defendant.

Gillard spoke for himself to say he now had a partner in Wellington who was willing to have him live with her.

He said a care worker had talked about speaking to Idea Services for him about accommodation - “but I have too much ability to go there.”

Gillard has been in custody on remand since February.

Judge Bidois said he was hamstrung by sentencing options.

He set a start point of two years’ imprisonment and reduced it by 50 percent to reflect Gillard’s guilty plea, intellectual disability, lack of understanding and general mental health.

The end sentence was 12 months’ prison, with leave for substitution refused. He will be subject to release conditions for six months.

Gillard must pay $250 in emotional harm reparation to each victim and was ordered to forfeit the weapon.

Sentencing adjourned for monitoring

Whakatāne man Mana Taitapanui has been granted one final adjournment before being sentenced on charges of wounding with reckless disregard and discharging a firearm with intent to intimidate.

He was first brought before the court for sentencing on the charges, and other unrelated ones, in February.

Judge Bidois said he split the sentencing to see if he could comply with a home detention sentence and survive in the community.

He told Taitapanui that he was doing well.

Taitapanui has been engaged in Fordlands Community Centre’s services, and a favourable report was submitted to the court, but they noted that no real change had been observed because of the short time period he hds been with them.

He is on post-detention conditions until mid-November.

Judge Bidois granted a final adjournment to November 12 to further monitor Taitapanui’s engagement.