Court News

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A jury trial set down to be heard this week in Gisborne District Court was cancelled after a man and woman pleaded guilty before it began.

The jury pool was sent home.

Anastasia Anita Apanui, 31, shed hand, and Te Rangi Whetu Keepa, 38, appeared separately at a fixture the morning of the scheduled trial.

Apanui pleaded guilty to six charges arising out of incidents in September last year.

On September 7, she received sheep, valued at more than $1000; on September 13, she received a Hilux ute and its contents, also valued at more than $1000; on September 14, she assaulted a woman with a sharp weapon, stole the woman’s cell phone, and unlawfully took her vehicle. That day Apanui also used a man’s debit card with intent to obtain a pecuniary advantage.

The Crown withdrew charges of common assault and kidnapping.

Some of the charges Keepa faced were also withdrawn, after which he pleaded guilty to a representative charge of receiving stolen property (between January and October, last year), and two charges of burglary involving two properties he unlawfully entered in September, last year, at Whatatutu and in Awapuni Road.

Judge Warren Cathcart remanded each of the defendants on bail for sentence on March 15.

Defence counsel Leighvi Maynard for Apanui and Vicky Thorpe for Keepa each signalled the court would be supplied with cultural reports for consideration at sentencing.

The judge ordered pre-sentence reports to traverse the suitability of electronically-monitored sentencing options and referred each of the defendants to the restorative justice process.

Martell Hiroki, 32, received a first-strike warning after pleading guilty to a charge of wounding a man with intent to injure.

Hiroki, represented by counsel Vicky Thorpe, was remanded further on electronically-monitored bail for sentence on March 19. The Crown opposed the application, preferring Hiroki remain in custody.

Judge Cathcart told Hiroki his compliance with bail ahead of sentence could influence the type of sentence imposed, the starting point for which was likely to be about two and a half years imprisonment.

The judge noted Hiroki had a prior conviction for serious violence and numerous but historic convictions for non-compliance with court orders.

The incident from which this charge arose was on June 10. Ms Thorpe said the victim’s injury was minor.

A man now on parole after serving a prison term for indecent assault will be subject to a five-year extended supervision order.

Abraham Maurirere, 45, appeared before Judge Cathcart, who imposed the order as sought in an application by the chief executive of the Department of Corrections.

Maurirere was sentenced by Judge Niven Dawson in August, 2017, to 16 months imprisonment. He had pleaded guilty to two charges of indecently assaulting a female (aged over 16), wilful damage and a breach of bail.

(The term of the sentence was later reduced to 13 months, after a High Court appeal.)

Since his release, Maurirere has been subject to an interim supervision order. A previous hearing as to whether it should be imposed long-term was adjourned for counsel Manaaki Terekia to consult on behalf of his client with an expert.

Mr Terekia told the court as a result of the information obtained from that expert, there was no longer any challenge to the application.

At the 2017 sentencing hearing, Judge Dawson said comments in a pre-sentence report were “grim”.

Maurirere minimised his offending and shifted blame to the complainant.

He was assessed as a high risk of reoffending.

Judge Cathcart said Maurirere had recently also been similarly evaluated by health officials, prompting the chief executive’s application for the extended supervision order.