The two men beaten by patrons as they tried to rob a Whakatane bar have been told by a district court judge that they were the "last in a line of sorry citizens" who tried the same thing in the same area and had been caught.
When sentencing 23-year-olds Mateni Lynch and Jebidiah Adam Marks today on a charge of assault with intent to rob, Judge Thomas Ingram told both men they were too dumb to realise police would catch them.
He sentenced each of the men to four years' jail.
"The level of stupidity required to undertake a robbery in Whakatane is huge," Judge Ingram said. "Especially when there is a pool tournament being played and everyone is armed with pool cues.
Judge Ingram said in the eight years he had been sitting in the Whakatane District Court "no one in Whakatane has ever got away with aggravated robbery".