Judge has lesson for jailed teen

A judge trying to sweep Napier clean of burglars yesterday took the unusual step of making a teenager he sent to jail stay in court to see what happened to more senior burglars.
The move was suggested by Crown prosecutor Nicola Graham in Napier District Court and was taken-up by Judge Tony Adeane after he sentenced Luke-Tane Skipworth-Jury (known as Luke Jury), 17, to two years and three months in jail on six charges of burglary.
Moments later, Jury stood in the dock again accompanied by a prison officer to listen as recidivist Ezra Jeremiah Kara, 21, was jailed for three years and four months for a separate crime spree, involving four charges of burglary and two of being unlawfully on property.
Later yesterday, Harley William John Whaanga, 22, was sentenced to two years and six months' jail for 11 offences, including two burglaries in which cars were taken from Napier to Flaxmere for what Judge Adeane described as ``stripping and rebranding.''
Including other offences, the trio's individual crimewaves involved raids on at least 17 private properties in Napier in less than five months earlier this year.
In one particularly vigorous exercise in May, Jury and two young associates burgled four homes in one day, taking a car from the first and using it to ferry about $17,000 worth of stolen property.
The property taken on that day included three flat-screen TV sets, and two electric guitars.
Both Kara and Whaanga committed crimes while on bail, Whaanga having been denied bail by Judge Adeane in January only to be granted bail by another judge a week later. Judge Adeane yesterday surmised Whaanga's freedom at that time resulted from confusion.
Ms Graham asked the Judge to keep Jury in court during Kara's appearance ``because this was where Kara was three years ago''.
Kara had 12 previous convictions for burglary, leading to two prison sentences. Defence counsel Leo Lafferty said Kara wanted to give up but because of his background struggled to get or maintain employment and returned to a lifestyle of ``despair and desperation''.
But Judge Adeane told Kara, with a warning nod towards Jury, that ``the gloves are now off'' and the primary concern of the court in setting a penalty was to denounce the offending and deter others.
Meanwhile, in a separate courtroom, Napier woman Jahnn Michelle Hamilton, 28, became the fourth person sentenced to jail as a result of burglary. A .22 hunting rifle was stolen from a Putorino farmhouse on January 5.
Meanwhile three others were all resentenced yesterday, as a result of an error in their original sentencing which put the value of stolen property at $35,000. Judge Rea conceded the error was his, said the value was $10,000 and apologised.
Watene Hayward Niania, a 35-year-old Mongrel Mob member, was resentenced to two years and two months' jail, while Robert James Kaihau, 31, and Kylie Rochelle Pemberton, 24, were resentenced to 22 months' jail.