Serial bank robber gets four years

Steven Kurt Peri had committed a dozen bank robberies in the past and all were when he was short of money after a spell behind bars. Photo / Greg Bowker

A bank robber who left a change of clothes at a charity shop across the road to aid his getaway has narrowly dodged an indefinite jail term.

Steven Kurt Peri appeared before the High Court at Auckland this morning on one charge of aggravated robbery after his solo heist on the Henderson BNZ in June.

The Crown argued the man, who had a long history of bank robberies, should be sentenced to preventive detention - an indefinite period behind bars - but Justice Ailsa Duffy declined.

Instead she jailed Peri for four years and 11 months.

Since being deported from Canada in 2007, the defendant has spent just over a year out of prison.

The court heard he had moved overseas with his family when he was 1 but was returned to New Zealand after serving seven years in a Canadian prison for similar offending.

On the morning of June 2, Peri packed a change of clothes, wrote a note demanding money and grabbed an air pistol.

He left the bag of clothes in a Salvation Army opshop and headed across the road to the customer service desk at BNZ.

Peri handed over the note.

"I have a gun which I will not hesitate to use. I want all the notes from out of the drawer. Do not draw attention or notify anyone until I have left. I do not want to hurt anyone but I will if you do not follow instructions," it said.

One staff member retreated to a back room so Peri approached another, putting the weapon on the counter to press his point.

Eventually a manager handed him $5060.

Peri left the bank with the loot and got changed in the opshop but his criminal history meant it was not long before the police focused on him.

Crown prosecutor Tim McGuigan said although it was the first time the defendant had used a firearm, the offending fit a "very identifiable pattern".

Peri had committed a dozen bank robberies in the past and all were when he was short of money after a spell behind bars.

Justice Duffy said she had some sympathy for his personal circumstances, being deported at 28 years old to a place where he had no support or family.

Peri had lost his job and been on a 13-week mandatory stand-down period from claiming a benefit at the time of the most recent offending, which the judge said must have prompted the desperate measures.

Health professionals assessed Peri as having a high likelihood of reoffending but Justice Duffy was satisfied that rehabilitation could adequately protect the community on his release in nearly five years.

"You're ultimately the master of your own fate," she told him. "You can make sure this is your last offending. It won't be easy but if you don't do this, you're likely to spend the best part of your life in prison."

Because Peri was given his second strike, he will have to serve all his sentence without parole. Another serious violent offence would put him behind bars for life without parole under the three-strikes legislation.

TIMELINE

1999 - Jailed for 12 years in Canada for forcible confinement, robbery with a firearm and robbery without a firearm

Feb 2007 - Deported to New Zealand after serving seven years

Aug 2007 - Jailed for three and a half years after a spree of seven robberies

Feb 2011 - Released from prison

Five days later - Committed three bank robberies over nine days, for which he is jailed for nearly four years

Dec 2014 - Released from prison