Robber gets ‘choice’ sentence
“Choice” said an offender with heavy facial tattoos as he was jailed for two years for what a judge called a nasty and serious robbery.
Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish made allowance for progress that Martin Henry Reuben, 53, had made since his arrest for a violent robbery at a city council housing complex in Avonside in August 2012.
She said Reuben had been operating under the influence of the main offender, Benjamin William Hita, 58, who had pleaded guilty earlier and been jailed for two years six months.
The trials – a retrial had been ordered after the first one was aborted – had been told that Hita had punched and held the victim while Reuben used scissors to cut the webbing of his fingers to use the blood as lubricant to take two swastika rings off.
Judge Farish said the victim had been vulnerable because of his small stature and his mental health issues.
Reuben had been found guilty of aggravated robbery by a jury at a short trial in June.
Defence counsel Phillip Allan said the trial had heard that Reuben had been “effectively following instructions” from Hita. Reuben had been on restrictive bail conditions for three years without difficulties since his arrest. He had not been the cause of the trial delays. Over the last year he had engaged positively in rehabilitation programmes.
Judge Farish told Reuben: “You were somewhat following orders although it was still a very nasty and serious incident.”
She said Reuben did not have a substantial history of violent offending. “You have been working fairly solidly over the last two to three years to remove yourself from negative influences. That is not easy for a man steeped in the gang lifestyle and culture for a long time.”
She reduced his sentence for his long time on restrictive bail conditions, for the responsible way the trial had been conducted, and for the significant progress he had made to lower his risk of reoffending.
Category: Focus
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