A former Mongrel Mob gang member who was found not guilty of murder by a jury in 2017 has been sentenced to prison for an unrelated, brutal "street" revenge attack that occurred three years later.
Michael Tristan Ford, 29, pleaded guilty last year to one count each of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily injury, kidnapping for gain, threatening to kill and injuring with intent to injure. He returned to the High Court at Auckland today as Justice Anne Hinton ordered him to serve three years and three months' prison for the wounding and injury convictions and concurrent two-year sentences for the other two.
Defence counsel John Corby described his client to the judge as a methamphetamine addict who suffered extreme abuse as a child. Like many men "brutalised" at a young age, "there's a very hair-trigger for violence", he said.
"I have a lot of sympathy with his situation," Corby added. "He's a quietly spoken, almost charming young man."
But the judge quickly responded: "He wasn't too charming to the victim in this case."
Ford and two other men - both still awaiting trial - are accused of luring a housesitter who they suspected of stealing property from one of them to another house in July 2020, where Ford then punched the man hard enough that he fell to the ground.
Ford punched the man six more times in the head as he lay on the ground, announcing that he intended to kill the victim, before forcing him to film a confession video. Ford then began kicking him.
"He screamed in pain and you kicked him a third time, telling him to be quiet," Justice Hinton said, adding that after Ford left the property "the victim passed out from the pain".
Ford returned the next day, driving the victim to an address where he was ordered to buy the men methamphetamine. When they returned to the original location, the victim was shown a pair of garden secateurs and told to take off his socks so a toe could be cut off, the judge noted.
Instead, however, it is alleged Ford smoked meth and then left. The victim was admitted to hospital two days later when he woke up in the middle of the night struggling to breathe. He suffered a ruptured spleen and developed pneumonia in hospital, where he remained for over two weeks.
Documents provided to the judge prior to today's sentencing did not mention Ford's 2017 trial at the same courthouse in which a jury acquitted him of murder and injuring with intent to injure.
Ronald Clayton Karipa, 42, died from stab injuries in October 2016 after he and Ford allegedly pulled knives on each other at a bus stop in west Auckland suburb Glendene. During his trial, Ford claimed self-defence, acknowledging he stabbed Karipa but saying he didn't intend to kill him.
Prior to Ford's trial, his brother-in-law had pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder, admitting he burned Ford's blood-soaked clothes in an incinerator on the night of the stabbing. However, his conviction was quashed after Ford's not guilty verdict, with the Court of Appeal deciding three months later that one "cannot be an accessory to a murder that did not occur".
Justice Hinton did, however, refer today to Ford's "extensive criminal history" dating back to 2010, which included six prior convictions for assault and/or violence and two prior prison sentences.
Crown prosecutor Kristy Li agreed Ford should be given some leniency to account for his abusive childhood, which resulted in him living on the streets from the age of 16 followed by gang membership and addiction issues.
The premeditated nature of the attack and the serious injuries that resulted are all aggravating factors in determining the sentence, the judge noted. But she also commended Ford for applying for a bed at residential rehab facility Odyssey House. She made a note to the Parole Board suggesting that he be released to the facility at some point.
Ford's sentence might have been slightly shorter if it wasn't for his apparent lack of remorse, the judge also noted.
"We're looking at street behaviour" in which those who steal from others "get a slapping", Ford's lawyer noted of the lack of remorse. "He needs a lot of repair. He needs re-programming."
But behaviour like that is going to end up with Ford eventually getting slapped back, whether on the street or in the form of prison, the judge responded.
"You can't just go through life like that. I sincerely hope that Mr Ford understands that," she added. "He needs to understand that unless he has some empathy for other people, there's going to be someone else who ain't going to have any sympathy for him."