R v Inia

[2015] NZHC 2351

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND HAMILTON REGISTRY

CRI-2014-019-003858 [2015] NZHC 2351

THE QUEEN

v

JAHMIN TAIORA TE HINGA INIA

Hearing:	6 May 2015
Appearances:	M J Robb for Crown K W Burroughs for Prisoner
Judgment:	6 May 2015

SENTENCING NOTES OF ANDREWS J

R v INIA [2015] NZHC 2351 [6 May 2015]

Charges

[1]      Mr Inia, I gave you a sentence indication this morning and you have now asked to be arraigned on the three charges to which the sentence indication related. You have now entered pleas of guilty to each of those three charges. They are:

(a)       Charge 7:  a charge of burglary

(b)       Charge 8:  a charge of dishonestly using a document; and

(c)       Charge 10:  a charge of participating in an organised criminal group. [2]       In the light of your guilty pleas, you are convicted on each of those charges.

[3]      I record that you have accepted the draft summary of facts presented by the

Crown, and that you also accept the criminal and traffic history record dated 6th May

2015.

[4]      Mr Burroughs has submitted to me today that you wish to proceed to be sentenced today and you have no objection to proceeding without a pre-sentence report.  A pre-sentence report is usually before the Court before sentencing but the effect of your instructions to Mr Burroughs is that you waive the right to having a pre-sentence report considered.

[5]      On behalf of the Crown, Mr Robb has indicated that  the Crown has no objection to my proceeding to sentence you today.

[6]      Accordingly,  you  will  be  sentenced  in  accordance  with  the  sentencing indication and the sentences are as follows:

Relevant facts

[7]      You are a member of a local Hamilton street gang known as the Westside Outlaws.  The summary of facts recorded that text data from cellphones used by you and your co-offenders demonstrated your willingness to be involved in offending

such as theft, burglary, aggravated robbery and other dishonest offending, with the aim of acquiring income and assets.   Your particular involvement was shown in discussing the organising of firearms before an aggravated robbery of the Frankton TAB on 12 April 2014, discussions after that robbery, and again after a further aggravated robbery of a bar.

[8]      The charge of burglary you faced related to the burglary of the Te Runanga

Kirikiriora Adult Learning Centre in Frankton on 23 May 2014.  The burglary was at

2.14 am.   A safe containing cash, cheque books, bank cards, keys, trade cards, vouchers and other items to a total value of about $5,000 was taken.  A few hours later one of the bank cards was used by you to withdraw $800 in cash.

Sentencing process

[9]      The maximum available penalty on  each  of the charges  of burglary and participation in an organised criminal group is ten years’ imprisonment.   On the charge of dishonestly using a document the maximum available penalty is imprisonment for seven years.

[10]     There is no tariff sentencing decision in respect of the charges you faced. The circumstances of the offending vary greatly and each sentence must be considered in the light of the purposes and principles of sentencing, the particular circumstances of the offending – including how serious it was and what your part was in it – and the particular circumstances of the offender.

[11]     It is appropriate to take the burglary as the lead offence for setting a starting point for your sentencing.

[12]     Mr Robb submitted that while the burglary took place at night, and at a school, it was not (given the time at which it occurred) offending that was likely to result in your coming into contact with anyone at the school.  He submitted that your offending, while serious, could be seen as not having the aggravating feature of, for example, a burglary of a residential property.  Further, Mr Rodd acknowledged that

no school computers or student equipment was targeted as such.  Nonetheless, it was a burglary of a school, at night.

[13]     Mr  Burroughs  made  the  point  that  your  offending  involved  commercial premises where the victim was insured. And suggested that the starting point for your sentencing should be at the lower end of the range of 18 to 24 months’ imprisonment.

[14]     I adopt a starting point of 21 months’ imprisonment on the charge or burglary.

[15]     It  is  then  necessary  to  consider  the  totality  of  your  offending,  because concurrent sentences will be imposed.  In respect of the charge of participation in an organised criminal group. Mr Robb submitted that you were about at the third level of the hierarchy of the organised criminal group.  Bearing that in mind, and in order to reflect the totality of your offending, I apply an uplift to the starting point of four months’ imprisonment for that charge, and the charge of using a document.

[16]     A further uplift of three months’ imprisonment is required to reflect the need for additional deterrence shown by the fact that you have previous convictions for dishonesty offending, and the fact that you were on bail on a charge of burglary when you committed the present offences.  That leads to an adjusted starting point of

28 months’ imprisonment.

[17]     You are entitled to a discount for your guilty pleas, which were entered at an early stage.  I will therefore apply a discount of four months’ imprisonment, which is somewhere around the 15 per cent mark.

Sentence

[18]     Mr Inia, you are therefore sentenced as follows, and all sentences are to be served concurrently (that is, at the same time):

(a)       On  the  charge  of  burglary,   you   are  sentenced   to   two   years’

imprisonment.

(b)      On the charge of participating in an organised criminal group, you are

sentenced to six months’ imprisonment; and

(c)       On the charge of using a document, you are sentenced to four months’

imprisonment.

[19]     Thank you Mr Inia, you may stand down.

Andrews J