A serious problem of witness intimidation by gang members in this region has been highlighted in a case resulting in three Black Power men jailed for obstructing justice.
Crown solicitor Steve Manning told Gisborne District Court the case was a paradigm example of the ongoing difficulties of prosecuting here — especially matters involving gang members who live by a culture of fear and intimidation.
The case demonstrated the difficulties for witnesses living shoulder-to-shoulder in a small centre with people intent on dissuading them.
But it also showed how brave witnesses, determined not to back down, could see justice achieved, Mr Manning said.
In February 2017, Vincent Laurence Baker, 33, James Henderson, 25, and Samuel James Vernon Tuari, 28, brazenly intruded on to private property, two of them patched up for the occasion and Henderson carrying a gun.
They were intent on scaring and intimidating a woman into dropping her complaint of assault against Henderson.
The woman was not there but her brother and several children were at the house. The brother (an associate of Baker and Tuari) found himself staring down the barrel of the gun Henderson pointed directly at him, with Henderson uttering a chilling directive to tell his sister to “f****** drop the charges”.
At a jury trial for the trio this February, the court was closed to the public as the man gave his evidence. He wept as he recalled trying to spread himself wide enough to shield six children and take any bullet himself.
Mr Manning, at sentencing, said it was clear the man endured a great deal of fear in going through what he did and giving evidence.
It was powerful evidence that had brought the trial to a halt. During it, the defendants decided to change their pleas.
All three admitted obstructing justice.
Henderson also pleaded guilty to a firearm charge, the Crown agreeing to reduce it from one that carried a three strikes warning and to withdraw it against the co-offenders.
Judge Warren Cathcart echoed Mr Manning’s concerns.
Gang intimidation was a common feature in numerous cases in Gisborne and the wider East Coast, he said.
The Mongrel Mob and Black Power considered they were entitled, as part of trial tactics, to subvert the course of justice by threatening and intimidating witnesses so they would not turn up at court.
But such conduct would not be tolerated by the court.
“It’s the rule of law that governs, not what gangs determine the courts should hear and see,” Judge Cathcart said.
Denunciation and deterrence had to be paramount in sentencing such offending.
Jailed for trying to dissuade a witnessFor each of the defendants, Judge Cathcart set a sentence starting point of three years and nine months, before applying various uplifts and discounts to reflect each of their positions.
Henderson was jailed for four years on the lead charge, with 12 months concurrent for the firearms offence.
Tuari received three years and nine months, and Baker three years and eight months.
In submissions, counsel Michael Lynch said Henderson did not intend for things to evolve the way they did at the property.
Ironically, the woman’s complaint against him — for which he was on bail at the time — would have succeeded regardless.
It transpired the incident behind her complaint was caught on CCTV.
Nevertheless, that was not a mitigating feature, Judge Cathcart said.
It did not reduce Henderson’s culpability for this offending.
There was discount for Henderson’s willingness to attend restorative justice (the woman was interested, her brother was not).
Discount for remorse had to be kept in context, the judge said.
Henderson’s guilty plea came only after the male witness had gone through the ordeal of testifying.
Had he failed to come up to brief or been sufficiently spooked, there was no doubt Henderson would have taken advantage.
While all three men had prior relevant convictions, Tuari had one for the same offence of obstructing justice.
The need for deterrence in his case was especially cogent, the judge said.
Tuari had the audacity to actually enter the house.
Counsel Alistair Clarke said Tuari maintained he didn’t know of the issue between Henderson and the female complainant, but had his own reasons for going to the property.
Some of the children were his nieces and nephews. He, too, knew the male witness as a fellow Black Power member.
He was remorseful because he was also frightened by the situation that unfolded, but it was beyond his control.
Tuari’s prior conviction for obstructing justice was as a much younger man and was for hiding a firearm, Mr Clarke said.
Counsel Leighvi Maynard said Baker’s involvement in the incident went no further than advancing on to a driveway.
Judge Cathcart noted Baker regarded the male witness as a good mate and empathised with him, but that expression only came in a pre-sentence report after the man had given evidence.