The High Court at Auckland. Photo / NZME
GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING - THIS STORY CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENT CRIME.
Two more Auckland-based gang members have been sent to prison for participating in a 2019 kidnapping and hours-long torture session so brutal that a series of judges have had difficulty recalling worse cases.
"By any measure, this was extreme violence involving torture of the most brutal and barbaric kind," Justice Kit Toogood said on Thursday as Jayden Tregidga, 27, was sentenced to six years' prison at the High Court at Auckland and co-defendant Montell Keni, 24, was sentenced to two years and four months' prison.
Three co-defendants were given lengthier sentences last year after it was determined they played more active roles in the scheme, described by Toogood Thursday as "almost incomprehensibly barbarous and cruel".
A man referred to in court documents only as "Mr D" was lured to Tregidga's New Lynn home in November 2019, accused by Tregidga and four others of owing thousands of dollars that Mr D was believed to have robbed from another person.
"You threw a punch at him initially which missed, but you were involved over the course of several hours in the restraint, the violence, punching and kicking, stripping him naked and so on," Justice Toogood told Tregidga. "His phone, keys, wallet and cash were stolen; he was threatened with a cut-down .22 rifle, including by you at one point."
Over the course of about two hours, the man was hog-tied with his arms and legs behind his back, he was gagged with a T-shirt, he was kicked and punched in the head, he was urinated on and one of the men threatened to cut off his genitals and burn him alive.
"Mr D was then forced into the rear footwell of his car and taken, still bound and gagged, to another building in Whenuapai where he was tied to a chair," the judge recounted. "Liquid was sprayed into his eyes; he was shot once in each foot and a blowtorch was used to burn his right hand, back, chest, feet, legs and stomach.
"He was struck several times over the head with a metal object and a pair of secateurs was used to cut off his left little finger."
The torture at both locations lasted about 12 hours before the man was taken back to his car, with his hands tied and eyes taped shut. After about 30 minutes of driving, Mr D was able to get loose and throw himself from the car.
He ran into oncoming traffic and was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery and other treatment for his concussion, burns, wounds and amputation. Had he not jumped from the car, he said, he believes he would have been burned alive.
A district court judge who sentenced one of the co-defendants in May 2020 described the gratuitous violence as like something from a Quentin Tarantino movie. In all his time as a judge, he had never seen such a graphic summary of facts short of murder, he said.
Justice Sarah Katz - who ordered a sentence of 12 years and seven months for co-defendant Liam Hourigan and a 10 years and six months sentence for Henry Enoka Kea - described the offending as "almost incomprehensible" during that sentencing hearing.
"This was exceptionally sadistic, callous, premeditated and prolonged offending," she said.
The victim himself described the attack in a statement to the court as "incredibly violent" and at the hands of "mentally ill, pathetic meth heads".
But Justice Toogood on Thursday held out hope for the latest two offenders, pointing to their attempts to better themselves with programmes while in prison and what he said appeared to be genuine remorse.
"You are still young men. You have had appalling lives so far but I believe there
is hope for your future," he said. "You have both shown a willingness to take responsibility for your disgraceful behaviour and you have taken steps to rehabilitate yourselves."
However, they must end their gang involvement, especially while in prison, or they will be back in the courtroom again, he predicted.
He ordered Tregidga to serve at least half of his six-year sentence before he can apply for parole. The defendant pleaded guilty in June to charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, threatening to kill, injuring with intent to injure and unlawful possession of a pistol. He will have to serve at least three years before he can apply for parole.
Keni, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and injuring with intent to injure, was not given a minimum term of imprisonment.
"Neither of you went with the other offenders and Mr D to the Whenuapai address and you did not arrive there until shortly after Mr D's finger was amputated," the judge noted. "Mr D's brutalised body and his stricken condition must have been obvious to you both, however.
"Rather than withdrawing from the enterprise or trying to persuade the others to bring it to an end, both of you joined in, using a lit cigarette to burn Mr D's eyelids and shoulder at a time when he was broken and utterly defenceless."
While Tregidga might not have been present for the majority of the violence, his initial involvement "set the tone for what [was] to come", Crown prosecutor Henry Steele argued.
But defence lawyer Daniel Gardiner said his client didn't help plan the kidnapping and only participated after the other showed up at his house.
Gardiner also pointed to Tregidga's violent childhood, going to live with an abusive father at age 8 who introduced him to gang life. He first became associated with the 27 Brotherhood Bloods gang at the age of 10. He left home to live on the street at 16.
Keni's lawyer, Quentin Duff, also pointed to a rough childhood and early introduction to gang life. His father was a patched Mongrel Mob member who spent much of his son's formative years in and out of prison, Duff submitted to the court.
He joined the Bloods street gang, of which other family members were already members, and was addicted to methamphetamine at the time of the kidnapping.
"The violent abuse you suffered during your childhood led inevitably to your involvement in violence as an adult and there is no doubt that your early engagement with abusive substances and the gang culture led you directly into this offending," Justice Toogood said.
Don't worry, it's warming up now.