Mob member's daughter jailed

The daughter of notorious Mongrel Mob member Kevin "Face" Tuahine has been jailed for eight months for dishonestly obtaining almost $30,000 from two people, forging letters from a law firm and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), and by twice having a friend pose as a lawyer.
Napier beneficiary Shandah Renee Tuahine, 23, received the sentence when she appeared in the Hastings District Court on Tuesday on six charges of dishonestly using a document, one of dishonestly obtaining a document, one of obtaining by deception, and two of forgery.
Tuahine's father, Kevin "Face" Tuahine, 42, died after being shot at Wairoa on February 28, 2003. He was originally alleged to have died after being struck in the head with a gun butt by Black Power member Cyril Watene, who discovered Tuahine and three other Mongrel Mob members inside his house.
Watene was later cleared of the murder charge in a High Court trial.
According to a police summary of facts, Shandah Tuahine borrowed money on 14 occasions from a Wairoa man between October 16 and November 29 2003. The loans totalled $6025, and when the man expressed reluctance to lend Tuahine more money, she assured him she would repay it.
She said she had a lawyer negotiating with ACC on her behalf for a payout in relation to her father's death.
Twice she placed telephone calls to a Gisborne number, and the complainant spoke with a man who claimed he was Tuahine's lawyer and was negotiating with ACC on her behalf.
On 41 occasions between December 1, 2003 and April 5, 2004, Tuahine borrowed money from the man totalling $16,771.
Sometime between December 1, 2003 and January 23, 2004 Tuahine forged a letter to the man, claiming to be from a Gisborne law firm.
The letter claimed that the firm acted on Tuahine's behalf in negotiations with ACC about an expected payout.
Sometime between December 1, 2003 and and February 28, 2004, Tuahine forged a letter from ACC, confirming she was due a payout of more than $24,000 in relation to her father's death.
Both letters were created to convince the man that Tuahine could repay her loan.
Tuahine later told police she had received about $24,000 from the complainant and that she had never intended repaying the money.
The document charges related to offending in Hastings on May 10 this year, when Tuahine took a credit card belonging to an elderly man she had befriended, and briefly lived with.
On six occasions over three days Tuahine used the card to withdraw $2400 from money machines. Counsel Trent Petherick said the Wairoa victim admitted to police that he had been in a sexual relationship with Tuahine.
Mr Petherick said Tuahine had been affected by the death of her father and was vulnerable.
Judge Geoff Rea said Tuahine had shown she could be "clever, manipulative, intelligent and devious all at the same time."
The victim impact statement made "harrowing reading", saying the blow to the victims' confidence was worse than the financial impact. Judge Rea ordered Tuahine to repay $19,000 to her victims by the end of 2008.