The Wellington Chubb security van heist that netted more than $940,000 had been like the plot of a Hollywood movie, said a defence lawyer.
Greg King said, at the sentencing of three men, that for one of the robbers it had been more the thrill of the chase than the ultimate prey.
John Ruahina Moeke, aged 24, former security guard; Jonathan Robert McDonald, 27, unemployed; and Quintin William O'Brien, 23, unemployed, all of Upper Hutt, had admitted aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a Chubb security van.
In New Zealand's biggest armed robbery, they took $940,404 from two guards who were about to fill an automatic teller machine in Wellington's Willis St on December 22.
Wellington District Court Judge Patrick Keane sentenced Moeke to eight years' jail and McDonald and O'Brien to 7 1/2 years each.
The mothers and partners of the three men wept at the sentencing.
Judge Keane said the robbery was marked by "extraordinary planning, preparation and rehearsal."
The three men had been recruited by the leader, Peter Tyson, who has yet to be sentenced.
Moeke was part of the trio who abseiled down a bank to get into a secure area behind the automatic teller machine, and confronted the guards.
McDonald drove the trio to the site, having obtained the abseiling equipment. He later met them at the Kaiwharawhara Powder Magazine in Ngaio Gorge where the van was hidden.
O'Brien had been a lookout. He had told the gang via cellphone when the van left base and had later used his car as a moving block to slow traffic and then helped hide the money.
They were to get $10,000 each for their role in the robbery.
Judge Keane said $676,000 had been recovered. Some of the money was burned when the van and magazine building were torched.
The judge said the guards had showed remarkable resilience after the robbery. Neither was injured.
Moeke's lawyer, Rob Stevens, accepted that Moeke was one of the ring-leaders. He said Moeke was recruited at an early stage and was involved in the preparations and watching the van over several months.
Mr Stevens said the defendant's motivation was to help his family get ahead. None of the money Moeke took had been recovered.
The lawyer for O'Brien and McDonald, Greg King, said it was like a Hollywood movie plot. He said for McDonald, it had been more the thrill of the chase than the ultimate prey.
McDonald used the money he took, about $1500, to pay bills and was shocked to discover how much had been in the van.
Mr King said O'Brien used the money to provide a good Christmas for his family. An outing to Auckland's Sky Casino wiped out the rest.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said van robberies had been a problem in Wellington. Three of them had netted hundreds of thousands in the past 18 months.
He said the Chubb heist had involved sophisticated planning, and was well-executed.
Tyson and Wayne Turner are expected to be sentenced on Friday. A sixth member of the gang, Craig Ferris, will appear for sentence in the High Court at Christchurch on March 13.
Two others have not yet pleaded to charges.
- NZPA
Chubb robbery like Hollywood plot says lawyer
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