Serial offender says he wants to quit gangs and turn his life around

Two Northlanders who robbed The Warehouse in Dargaville of cash and jewellery have each been jailed for more than five years. Photo / John Stone

A young Northlander jailed for a serious aggravated robbery told a court he wanted to get out of gangs and criminality to show his "little cousins" there were better things to do in life.

Daniel Cameron, 25, acknowledged the harm his offending caused his mother and that one day, he would like to make her proud.

Cameron, together with Kaipara Anderson, 19, terrorised staff during an armed robbery of The Warehouse in Dargaville and stole more than $242,000 worth of jewellery and $27,600 in cash and cheques.

Cameron was jailed in the High Court at Whangārei to five years and two months imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to five charges of kidnapping, and one of aggravated robbery. He received his second strike warning.

Anderson was sentenced in the Whangārei District Court in January this year to five years and 10 months in prison for his part in the robbery.

Both went to the rear of The Warehouse about 11pm on May 28 last year and confronted five staff members who had gathered in the administration area. Anderson armed himself with a screwdriver and a pair of scissors and Cameron had a cut-down .22 calibre rifle.

Two staff members were threatened and led to a toilet area, ordered to face the wall and had their hands bound with an electrical cord. Shortly after, three other employees entered the office and were also taken to the toilet and bound.

Cameron demanded the shift manager lead him to the safe and, once it was opened, all the cash and jewellery was placed into a bag. Cash and cheques stolen were worth $27,612. The total retail value of the roughly 300 items of jewellery was $242,805.

Cameron told the court he had been awake for three days due to consuming methamphetamine at the time of the offending.

"You had been smoking meth for a period of three to four months prior to your arrest after trying the drug to 'understand the lifestyle' you say but that you could not stop," Justice Gerard Van Bohemen said at sentencing.

"You say that you want to change so that you can show your little cousins there is an alternative to becoming a criminal."

In 2012, Cameron was jailed for four years and two months for an aggravated robbery and received his first strike warning.