Hawke's Bay mobster jailed after kidnapping girlfriend and 'coward's punch' on female prison officer

Malcolm Karauria kidnapped and beat his partner, driving her around for several hours before being forced off the road by police in July 2021. Photo / NZME

A Mongrel Mob member has been jailed after he kidnapped and beat his girlfriend over several hours, and later threw a "coward's punch" at a female prison officer while in custody on remand.

Malcolm Karauria appeared in Napier District Court for sentencing on 20 charges, including 10 of assault on a person in a family relationship, and kidnapping, after driving his girlfriend around for several hours while beating her in July 2021.

Judge Russell Collins sentenced Karauria to four years and one month in prison yesterday, the day before his 21st birthday. In his oral decision after a judge-alone trial last December, Judge Collins said Karauria drove the woman to a number of Mongrel Mob addresses in Napier and its suburbs, seeking advice on how to deal with what he thought was a cheating girlfriend.

As he drove her around, he repeatedly punched and slapped her in the mouth, face, head, upper body and legs, and put her in a headlock.

"For him a female partner is effectively a chattel and … physical violence is acceptable where he considers there is a lack of fidelity or a lack of obedience," the judge said.

Karauria's actions were motivated by jealousy after he found a photograph of the woman with another man, identified as a fellow Mob member named Stefan, and he smoked methamphetamine as he drove.

The kidnapping lasted from mid-morning until mid to late afternoon and ended after the woman's grandmother intercepted them.

At the sentencing, the court heard that Karauria told the woman she would get a worse hiding if she did not do as she was told.

"The threat that you would take her to the [gang] pad and tie her up must have been a chilling prospect for her," Judge Collins said.

Judge Collins also decried Karauria's "sexist" assault with intent to injure on a female prison officer when he was in Hawke's Bay Regional Prison on remand last October.

After two female officers became isolated, Karauria and another prisoner walked up behind them and king-hit them simultaneously in what the judge said seemed to be a planned attack.

"You swung a coward's punch with a closed fist to the side of her face," Judge Collins said of Karauria's attack on his victim.

Because the prison officer had seen the start of the other man's attack on her colleague, she managed to deflect Karauria's punch on to her stab-proof vest.

Both women then drew pepper spray, took charge of the situation and locked their two attackers behind a grille.

"These officers were singled out because they are female," Judge Collins said. Such sexist attitudes were "absolutely embedded in Mongrel Mob thinking", he said.

Karauria had admitted reckless driving and failing to stop following a police chase after the woman had escaped from him.

Karauria appeared in court via a video link from prison, displaying the word "Napier" in a large tattoo across his face. As the sentencing hearing ended, he confirmed the length of his jail term and kicked out at a piece of furniture in the video booth.