Jail for ‘bullyboy tactics”
People who indulge in “stand-over bullyboy tactics” could expect no sympathy from the court, said a Christchurch District Court judge as he jailed a man for six years five months.
Sapati Junior Toleafoa, 24, was unhappy about the sentence he received and it took some time for Corrections officers to get him out of the courtroom.
He had admitted charges of armed robbery, shoplifting alcohol, and threatening to do grievous bodily harm.
Defence counsel John Brandts-Giesen said Toleafoa accepted there would be a substantial prison sentence. “He regrets what’s happened and is anxious to get back into the community and work.”
Judge Raoul Neave told Toleafoa: “Suffice to say, those who engage in stand-over bullyboy tactics can expect not one ounce of sympathy when they present themselves before the court.”
Toleafoa and a co-offender went to the victim’s house on September 11 last year, and found the man in his driveway.
The co-offender – he is on the run and not before the courts at present – told the man he owed him money and Toleafoa showed him the black pistol he had tucked in his belt.
Toleafoa told the man he owed him money as well, and he would come to his address every week and get money from him. He then pointed the pistol at the victim’s forehead and removed cash from his pocket.
Both men then struck the victim and knocked him down. Toleafoa lifted him off the ground and punched him in the face, saying he would return in a couple of weeks.
Judge Neave imposed a series of cumulative sentences totalling six years five months.
He also imposed a 175-hour community work sentence on 22-year-old Tania Agnes Awhina Kepa, who was found after a further incident related to the same victim, in a car that contained a pellet gun wrapped in a towel. She had admitted the charge of unlawful possession of the airgun.
Judge Neave told her: “It seems to be accepted that you have been dragged down by the company you were keeping at the time. You realise now you need to be more careful about the company you keep.”
Category: News
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