Family in tears as street robber jailed
A family held a large photograph in court of a father who has died, as his son was jailed for four years six months for a series of violent inner city muggings.
“I love you,” called Anthony John Wheble as family members left in tears at the end of the sentencing, and he began his jail term.
Defence counsel Glenn Dixon said the pre-sentence report indicated Wheble now had some insight into the effects of his offending and had “issues about the tragic passing of his father”.
Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar began the sentencing by asking Wheble if it was his family in court and if they were holding the photograph of his father. Wheble – now aged 20, but still a teenager at the time of the robberies – said that was correct.
“It is a sad day,” said Judge Kellar.
Wheble had admitted four charges of robbery and one of assault with intent to rob over a series of muggings carried out in the inner city in July 2014.
Lone victims walking home in the early morning were approached by Wheble and a second offender – Hayden James Hood, 22, who took a lesser role and has been jailed for three years.
Wheble used a torch and a wrench to threaten them, struck one with a rolled up newspaper, and one victim was punched in the face and kicked in the head and chest while on the ground. Another was punched in the nose, causing bleeding.
The pair demanded and took money, cellphones, an iPod, and tobacco from victims on Southwark Street, Manchester Street, Oxford Terrace, and Moorhouse Avenue.
Judge Kellar noted Wheble’s past offending, and propensity to behave in this way, and said a deterrent sentence had to be imposed.
Category: News
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