COURT: Night raid foiled say police

An awkwardly parked car found without occupants late at night at the rear of a Napier service station sparked alarm bells for the lone attendant who then locked himself inside the station and called the police.
And in the Napier District Court yesterday, the Crown alleged the Taradale Road Mobil Mart night attendant was right. He had managed to a foil a robbery in which a gang of four planned to beat him and take the station's cash and cigarettes on September 5 last year.
At the start of a trial before Judge Tony Adeane and a jury of six men and six women, Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker said would-be robbers Te Rapuwai Sonny Chase, 23, and Raymond Daniel Jones, 24, both of Flaxmere, had to run off.
Teaming up with two others, they were caught after a getaway car spun while being chased by police through the Onekawa industrial area.
In court they each faced charges of conspiring to commit robbery, unlawfully using the two cars which the Crown alleged had been unlawfully taken as part of the plan, and of theft of more than $1000 of women's clothing and other belongings from one vehicle.
Jones pleaded guilty to one charge of unlawfully using a vehicle and the theft, but all other charges were denied.
Mr Walker said the Crown alleged the two men, along with Daniel Kauahi Tapara and Noel Te Wai Raki, had driven from Hastings to Napier earlier in the night.
They stopped in Coote Road, where Jones and Tapara got out of the vehicle and broke into another, a Honda Accord, which was then driven around Napier, including passing the station several times where they ascertained there was just one attendant, Mr Walker said.
It was decided that Jones and Tapara would assault and rob the station staff member, the Crown claimed. The plan also involved the taking of a Holden Commodore found in a street near the station, and it was that car which aroused the suspicions of the attendant after he heard it park and no one came into the station.
He noticed the vehicle had a broken window and flat tyre, and there appeared to be no one in it. He locked the station doors and called the police.
Police began a search of the area minutes later, and stopped the Honda after it spun out in Austin Street, a short distance from Prebensen Drive, Mr Walker said.
Chase, apprehended with the vehicle as the other three left, later told police of his reluctance to be involved, saying he had asked to be taken back to the vehicle in which the group had travelled to Napier.
Jones was caught soon after fleeing from the Honda. The trial was expected to end today.
Judge Adeane issued a warrant for the arrest of Raki, 18, who failed to appear for the trial.