Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

'Are you worth going to jail for?' Wairoa gang member pondered consequences before throwing punch

Hawkes Bay Today
28 Mar, 2019 10:44 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hemi Stephen Wamoana was jailed for two years and nine months for the Wairoa attack. Photo / File

Hemi Stephen Wamoana was jailed for two years and nine months for the Wairoa attack. Photo / File

A Wairoa man's jaw was broken in two places and several of his teeth were loosened after a gang member felled him with a single punch and kicked him in the head.

Hemi Stephen Wamoana was jailed for two years, nine months by Judge Warren Cathcart in the Gisborne District Court this week after pleading guilty to injuring with intent to injure.

He also received a strike warning.

About a week ahead of the incident last July, Wamoana went to visit the victim's home at a Wairoa motel where Wamoana threatened to kill him.

At about 9.45am on July 31, Wamoana, driven by an associate, returned to the victim's home.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to a police summary of facts, Wamoana was "patched up" in his Mongrel Mob regalia with the hood of his red sweatshirt pulled up over his head — clothing Wamoana knew sent a clear signal in Wairoa, Judge Cathcart said.

Wamoana got out of the car and stood with clenched fists and a menacing look on his face, gesturing towards the man and saying "are you worth going to jail for?"

The driver of the vehicle told Wamoana to "cut it out" and the pair drove off.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The victim went into his garage to get some gardening tools, during which time Wamoana and his associate returned, blocking most of the garage doorway with their vehicle.

Wamoana told the man, "I'm going to f***** waste you right now".

The man shrugged off the comment and tried to walk out of the garage past Wamoana.

As he did, Wamoana knocked him to the ground with a single punch and kicked him forcibly in the head.

Wamoana and his associate then left.

The man needed surgery to his jaw and suffered swelling and cuts to the inside of his mouth.

When questioned by police, Wamoana made no comment.

His motivation for the attack was not clear from the police summary of facts or submissions made in court.

Crown prosecutor Steve Manning urged a sentence starting point of five years.

The incident was captured on CCTV. While brief, it was unprovoked, gratuitous violence, Manning said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It involved premeditation evident from the earlier threat. There was an element of gang warfare.

Counsel Alistair Clarke argued the premeditation was not limited. The serious injury caused was inherent in the charge. Wamoana was acting alone, not in an organised gang way.

The judge agreed with Clarke on a sentence starting point of four years imprisonment.

There was four months uplift for Wamoana's status on release conditions at the time of the offending and for his criminal history, which spanned 11 pages and included relevant convictions.

A cultural report commissioned by Clarke identified significant personal mitigating factors, for which the judge gave Wamoana discount of almost 20 percent (eight months).

The report provided insight as to what led Wamoana into a cycle of violence and offending.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For decades he experienced poverty, institutionalised life, poor parental oversight and care, and had suffered from crime himself.

He received a full 25 percent for his early guilty plea.

- Gisborne Herald

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

10 Jul 12:56 AM
Hawkes Bay TodayUpdated

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings gas station site

10 Jul 12:00 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

09 Jul 10:31 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

Hawke’s Bay’s $100m private hospital finished after five-year build

10 Jul 12:56 AM

Kaweka is the first hospital to be built in Hawke's Bay in almost a century.

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings gas station site

Drive-through sushi restaurant opens at former Hastings gas station site

10 Jul 12:00 AM
Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

Napier woollen yarn producer to close, 26 job losses

09 Jul 10:31 PM
Watch: Close call as ute nearly hit by heritage train

Watch: Close call as ute nearly hit by heritage train

09 Jul 08:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP