Second man admits street robberies
A second man has admitted five charges after the pair went on a spree of inner city street robberies a year ago.
Anthony John Wheble, 20, pleaded guilty to four charges of aggravated robbery and one of assault with intent to rob in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.
His co-offender Hayden James Hood, 22 – who is on a second-strike warning – is due to be sentenced on August 26.
On July 21, 2014, Wheble approached a man on his bike as he walked in a central city street at 10.20pm. Hood was riding around the pair in circles. Wheble asked the man for money, and grabbed the bag of groceries he was carrying. He demanded the man’s wallet while holding a large torch. The victim went to run away but fell, and the two men left on their bikes.
At 9.35pm on July 22, in Oxford Terrace, Wheble asked another man for money, and demanded he show him his wallet which had no money in it. He got off his bike and asked the victim what he was listening to on his MP3 player. He took the player and holding a wrench above the man’s head, told him to leave. Hood told Wheble that the man had tobacco in his pocket so he took that too. The victim was of Irish descent and as he walked off one of the males called out, “Welcome to New Zealand”.
In the early hours of July 26, on Manchester Street, the men asked another victim for small change. One of them asked for the time and when the victim took his iPhone out to tell them, one of them asked to use it to make a phone call. The victim said he would dial the number but the phone was snatched from his hand. He was punched in the face, and when he fell to the ground was kicked in the head and chest. He received grazed hands and wrists, a swollen face, and a split lip.
Later that morning, on Moorhouse Avenue, another man was asked for change and said no. Wheble told him to show him his wallet to prove he had no money, while Hood was close by on his bike. The victim handed over a $20 note and Wheble forced him against a fence and asked for his cell phone. Hood pulled out a small pocket knife and the victim handed over his phone. When he was leaving Wheble hit him over the head with a rolled up Press newspaper and told him not to get the police involved or he would kill him.
The men then moved onto another victim waiting for a bus in Ferry Road. Wheble approached him and snatched an iPod off him, and punched him in the nose.
Judge Paul Kellar read Wheble the first strike warning under the system that imposes heavier penalties on repeat violent offenders, and remanded him in custody for sentence on August 12.
Category: Focus
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