Havelock North kidnapping: Adam Wardle jailed for two years, 11 months

Adam Wardle, 38, appeared in the Napier District Court for sentence on two charges of kidnapping and one of assaulting a child. Photo / Paul Taylor

• Adam Wardle has been jailed for two years 11 months for kidnapping two girls in Havelock North.
• Family ‘can’t see the logic’ in sentence and discount given for guilty plea.
• Court hears younger girl ran back into harm’s way in response to her sister’s screams.
• Wardle had been awake for four days on meth-fuelled bender.
• This story describes an assault on children and may be distressing to some readers.

A mother says she can never forgive a stranger who kidnapped her daughters and “destroyed” their innocence, confidence and trust by subjecting them to a terrifying ordeal.

Adam Wardle coerced the sisters into going with him by threatening them with a screwdriver as they were out dog-walking in Havelock North in the early evening last October 5.

“I’ve got a screwdriver up my sleeve. If you scream, I will stab you. Follow me,” the 38-year-old told them.

The girls - one of primary school age and the other in her early teens - feared they would be killed, sexually assaulted or forced to take drugs by Wardle, who had been awake for four days on a methamphetamine-fuelled “bender”.

“They were in fear for their lives,” their emotional mother said in a victim impact statement she read to the Napier District Court on Friday.

At one point the younger girl managed to get away but ran back into harm’s way to help her older sister when she heard her screaming.

Wardle had tackled the older girl when she tried to flee, and pinned her down on the ground by her shoulders. When he lifted her up again he pointed the screwdriver at her waist.

Wardle threatened to stab victim

He swore at her, called her a “stupid bitch”, and said she should not “pull that s*** again” or he would stab her.

Wardle appeared in the court for sentencing after pleading guilty to two charges of kidnapping and one of assaulting a child.

Judge Gordon Matenga sent him to prison for two years and 11 months. No minimum non-parole period was imposed.

The girls eventually got away from Wardle and ran to a house nearby.

“Who knows what he would have done to them,” said their mother, who cannot be named to protect the girls’ identities.

“He has taken away the innocence of their childhood and I will never forgive him for that.”

Girls’ happiness and confidence ‘ripped away’

The girls’ father, who lives elsewhere, also submitted a victim impact statement which was read to the court on his behalf.

It said he felt a “profound sense of guilt” that he had not been on hand to protect his daughters from Wardle.

The statements together said that the ordeal had “ripped away” the lives of the happy and confident girls who felt safe in their neighbourhood and enjoyed walking the dogs or going to see relatives.

They now struggled with anxiety and nightmares and a deep-seated distrust of strangers, especially men.

One of the girls had burned the clothes she had been wearing on the day of her ordeal.

The other woke up every night, afraid that Wardle would get to her.

“There is no end in sight for us to come to terms with what Wardle did,” the mother said.

Sexual motive in kidnappings

Judge Matenga said there had been a sexual motive in the kidnappings and although this was not expressed to the victims, it had been easy for the older girl to “read between the lines”.

He described it as being “brazen” offending in a very public space – in and around a school playground.

He mentioned the moment when the younger girl had managed to get away.

“Chillingly, it was [the older victim’s] screams which brought her sister back. She had run away but couldn’t leave her sister,” Judge Matenga said.

“Hopefully with time and with appropriate assistance, the girls will be able to move forward but also clearly it is going to take them some time to deal with this,” the judge said.

Wardle has a criminal history, but not for this type of offending.

Judge Matenga said Wardle had a “chaotic upbringing”, including being abused for a long period of time by a male relative. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and serious substance abuse issues.

At the time of the kidnapping, he was on bail and subject to intensive supervision by a probation officer and arrangements had been made for him to go to Auckland for rehabilitation.

Members of public join chase

A Crown summary of facts said that after the girls reached safety and raised the alarm, locals chased Wardle along a street and into a drainage tunnel.

Wardle escaped from the tunnel through a manhole, changing into a dress that he had found discarded nearby.

A police officer in Havelock North after the kidnapping of two children in the town last October. Photo / Paul Taylor

Wardle then knocked on the door of another house and asked the female occupant to take him to hospital in Hastings, using the excuse that he needed to visit his sick mother.

The woman agreed, to get him away from her house because her daughter was inside.

On the way to the hospital, the woman saw police, pulled over and alerted them to Wardle in her car.

Wardle’s screwdriver was still in the vehicle.

Wardle has been in custody since the incident. The seven months he has been in jail on remand will count towards his sentence.

In calculating the sentence, Judge Matenga began with a starting point of five years in prison, then added uplifts for aggravating features and discounts for things like Wardle’s guilty plea and circumstances.

This resulted in the jail term of two years and 11 months, with a release date to be determined by the Parole Board in due course.

The calculation included a 25 per cent discount for the guilty plea - a usual discount when the plea has been made early in the court process, and which recognises that a trial has been avoided.

Family release statement

Outside the court, the girls’ family released a statement that said they “can’t see the logic” in the sentence given.

“Firstly we want to thank the police and the Crown prosecutor for all their hard work. From the family, we could not ask for anything more,” the statement said.

“We would like to express how broken the system is, when a man can get six months extra for breaching bail but have 25 per cent off just for saying he is guilty.”

The family said they wanted to challenge the new coalition Government “to change this system as there is no real punishment for doing crimes”.

“He [Wardle] has affected the girls’ lives forever and for his crime he will be out in two years 11 months, at the most.

“We can’t see the logic behind the time issued.”

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.