Man jailed for Hastings robbery he claimed he could not remember, awake for two days on meth before robbery

Teorihau Kirihi Gillies-Ngaranoa claims he woke up in Hawke's Bay Hospital and could not remember committing an aggravated robbery.

A man injured in a police-chase crash after the armed theft of a car from a young couple in Hastings woke up remembering nothing and saying it happened when he had been on methamphetamine and had not slept for two days.

But Teoroihau Kirihi Gillies-Ngaronoa, 25, now has plenty of time to recall the events of June 2, 2017, after being sentenced yesterday in the Napier District Court to three and a half years' jail for aggravated robbery.

He had previously pleaded guilty to the charge, as well as one charge of reckless driving and one of breaching conditions of a previous release from prison.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh was told that police saw the stolen VW Golf about two hours after Gillies-Ngaronoa took it from the couple in the Cornwall Park carpark, about 6.20pm.

A chase followed and resulted in several vehicles being damaged, including the wrecking of the stolen vehicle. Gillies-Ngaronoa was injured in a crash and taken to nearby Hawke's Bay Hospital unconscious while the second alleged offender fled, apparently being accidentally shot in the leg with a weapon he carried while trying to escape.

A Crown summary says two people had been sitting in a silver-coloured VW Golf parked in Tomoana Rd, near Cornwall Park, about 6.20pm.

Gillies-Ngaronoa and another man parked nearby in a vehicle which soon afterwards moved to block the VW's exit.

Gillies-Ngaronoa knocked on the window of the VW and asked for a cigarette lighter, walked away momentarily and returned to demand that the door be opened.

Once the door opened, Gillies-Ngaronoa ordered a male to get out and empty his pockets, and showed the man and an accompanying woman that he had a pistol in his jacket. The woman also got out and emptied her pockets.

Gillies-Ngaronoa got into the VW and drove off, the car still containing the victims' cellphones.

About two hours later police saw the stolen vehicle driven by Gillies-Ngaronoa in Camberley, but it did not stop and hit speeds of 110km/h in a 50km/h area, sometimes crossing the centreline in the face of oncoming traffic.

Bottles and other objects were hurled from the car towards pursuing patrol cars. The VW collided with a patrol car at the intersection of Takapu and Orchard Roads but continued on Orchard Rd before colliding with another patrol car.

While Gillies-Ngaronoa was being extricated to be taken to hospital, the co-offender fled and was apprehended soon afterwards, with a wound to one leg apparently caused by the discharge of the robbers' firearm during their flight from police.

Defence counsel Roger Phillip contended there was minimal premeditation but Judge Mackintosh said approaching the couple in the carpark, and the use of a firearm, with indications it may have been loaded, pointed to some degree of planning.