Mobster's punch ends 20-year business

Following numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact him, the store sold Claude Kahika's jacket as per its policy to cover the cost of repairing it. Photo / Duncan Brown

Judge Treston said the man was left 'too scared and stressed' to continue trading.

A Hastings retailer attacked in his store by a senior gang member has closed his 20-year business as he is "too scared" to continue trading.

Claude Karauria Kahika, 53, former head of the Hastings Mongrel Mob, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault after he broke the nose of the owner of a leather repairs store earlier this year.

Kahika had taken a leather jacket to the store to be repaired but did not return to collect it for several months.

Following numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact him, the store sold the jacket as per its policy to cover the cost of repairing it.

On June 27 of this year Kahika returned to collect it but was advised by the shopkeeper he had sold it.

The Hastings District Court heard yesterday he then punched the owner forcibly in the nose, causing it to break, before jumping over the counter and attempting to again punch the man, who turned and fled the store out a back exit. Kahika went to chase the victim but stopped when another store owner shouted at him to stop.

He then ran back through the store, jumped back over the counter, and left.

Judge Patrick Treston told the court the shopkeeper was left with a badly broken nose that required surgery and had since suffered breathing difficulties.

Judge Treston said the man was "too scared and stressed" to continue trading and had subsequently shut down his business of more than 20 years.

In a victim impact statement, the shopkeeper said the situation had cost him a lot of money and that he and his staff had lost confidence as a result of the attack.

Judge Treston said the statement made for "pretty unhappy reading". He said Kahika had convictions dating back to the 1970s but noted there was none for violent offending.

He said the attack was a "spontaneous eruption of emotion" and acknowledged Kahika had suffered the death of a friend just a day earlier.

Kahika's lawyer, Mathew Phelps, said the offending was not gang-related or pre-planned.

He was sentenced to a term of community detention and ordered to pay emotional harm reparation of $1000.

His victim, who asked not to be named, said he felt the sentence was too soft but did not want to comment further.