A man who tried to get someone else to take the blame for a vicious home invasion in Hamilton in June 1999 has had 21 months added to his sentence.
Mita McLean, aged 38, a kohanga reo teacher of Birkdale, had beenjailed for 10 years after he admitted two charges ofkidnapping, one of aggravated robbery and one of unlawfully taking a car.
A further 15 months was added for unrelated matters, taking his term to 11 years and three months.
In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Justice John Laurenson sentenced McLean to a further 21 months after he pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice by getting a Crown witness to change his evidence and confess to the offending.
During the incident three men burst into the home of an Asian family in Hamilton.
A 16-year-old girl was taken away and sexually violated near Meremere.
A co-offender in the home invasion, Ihaia John Hoto, aged 45, was jailed for 9 1/2 years.
A third man, a member of the Headhunters motorcycle gang, is suspected of carrying out the sexual offending. His name is suppressed.
Crown prosecutor Gina de Graaff told Justice Laurenson yesterday that McLean approached the witness, whose name is also suppressed, threatening that his family would be murdered if he did not confess to the offending.
The witness, who was in protective custody at Mt Eden jail on unrelated matters, signed a confession but the matter was fully investigated on the instructions of the Chief Justice, Dame Sian Elias, and the witness ended up giving evidence at a depositions hearing according to his original brief.
Justice Laurenson said that the intimidation, while ultimately unsuccessful, was vicious and sinister. It was vital that witnesses be able to give their evidence freely and without fear.
