Long stretch ahead for second-strike offender
File image. © Andrew Bardwell
Years of jail time stretch ahead for a street robber who received his second-strike warning after pleading guilty in the Christchurch District Court.
For a second-strike sentence, there will be no parole or early release for 21-year-old Hayden James Hood. He will serve all of the prison term imposed.
He received his first strike warning for offending in 2012. The system imposes heavier penalties on repeat violent offenders.
Judge Alistair Garland read Hood the second-strike warning and remanded him in custody for sentencing on June 17. He called for a pre-sentence report.
Second-strike warnings are rare. Judge Garland told Hood that if he offended again he would serve the maximum term for whatever offence he had committed, and that if he committed murder he would literally serve life behind bars, unless the judge decided it was “manifestly unjust”.
Hood pleaded guilty to four charges of aggravated robbery, one charge of assault with intent to rob, and one charge of threatening behaviour.
Crown prosecutor Aja Trinder told the court Hood was one of two men who allegedly committed the series of robberies. The other man charged has elected jury trial.
She said Hood had circled on his bicycle in Southwark Street at 10.20pm on July 21, acting as a look-out while groceries were taken off the first victim, and he was asked to hand over his wallet. The victim fell over as he ran off.
Another man was walking home along Manchester Street the next night when he was approached and his MP3 player was taken. Hood stayed on his bike but pointed out that the victim had tobacco, which was taken.
The victim is of Irish descent. As he walked off, one of the men called out, “Welcome to New Zealand”.
The pair confronted another man on July 26, snatched his phone, and punched him to the ground where he was kicked to the head and chest.
The same day, another man was confronted and made to hand over cash and a cellphone. He was hit over the back of the head with a wrapped copy of The Weekend Press.
An hour after that, a man at a bus stop on Ferry Road was robbed of his iPod and earphones and was punched in the nose.
When Hood was interviewed, he admitted his involvement.
Category: News
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