‘You’re a different man now’: Ex-gang member’s rehab efforts keep him out of jail after he bashed rival

The attack happened outside the KFC in Heretaunga St, Hastings. Photo / NZME

A man involved in a gang-related street attack has avoided a jail sentence after engaging in rehabilitation, getting off drugs and finding himself a job.

Charlie Paeora Whiunui appeared in the Napier District Court on Friday for a second sentencing hearing after being found guilty of aggravated robbery and assault with a weapon.

When he first appeared for sentencing six months ago, Judge Russell Collins adjourned the case to give Whiunui the chance to demonstrate his commitment to change and rehabilition.

The day before the January hearing, Whiunui’s co-offender Vinnie Freeman Herewini was sent to jail for three and a half years for the daylight attack on a rival gang member outside KFC in Hastings in October 2020.

Crown prosecutor Michael Blaschke had also sought a prison sentence for Whiunui.

However, Judge Collins told the court this week that Whiunui “has done everything I have asked of him” and had turned himself around.

He said that Whiunui’s life was “blighted” by drug addiction issues when he and Herewini, who were at the time associated with the Mongrel Mob, attacked Black Power member James Rivers, and took his hoodie in his gang’s colours.

“You are now sober and working to stay that way. That will be a lifelong challenge for you,” the judge said.

Defence counsel Clint Rickards said Whiunui had left the Mongrel Mob.

Judge Collins acknowledged letters from Whiunui’s whānau and partner, who were in the court’s public gallery to support him.

He said Whiunui also had the support of a drug rehabilitation service and had contributed “significantly” to his marae, where the trustees were grateful for the work he had done.

He had found himself a job and was “doing well”.

“You, I am satisfied, are a different man now than you were then,” Judge Collins told Whiunui.

He sentenced him to the maximum penalty of community detention – six months – with a curfew from 9pm to 5am, and 18 months of intensive supervision, with conditions to continue his rehabilitative journey.

He also barred Whiunui from having or using alcohol or illicit drugs, banned him from associating with Mongrel Mob members for 12 months, and told him to work towards a full driving licence.

Judge Collins said the more restrictive sentence of home detention, which usually involves a 24-hour curfew, would complicate Whiunui’s employment.

Whiunui had spent 130 days in custody on remand.

The court was told earlier that during the 2020 attack, Herewini and Whiunui took turns to beat Rivers with the same golf club. Whiunui hit him about the head and Herewini struck him repeatedly with such force that the club snapped.

Rivers pulled a knife in response, cutting both his assailants. Herewini received lacerations to both arms and Whiunui was cut on his left cheek, hand and elbow.

The attack happened in full view of members of the public about 9.20 in the morning.

Rivers picked up his food order from KFC after the incident and did not co-operate with the police investigation that followed.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.