Soon after the altercation, about 8pm, Kaihau was in the passenger seat of a white Audi in Mt Wellington, Auckland, following a Toyota Caldina.
Kaihau, who didn’t have a firearms licence, was in possession of a semi-automatic Remington shotgun with the stock and barrel cut short.
According to a police Summary of Facts, the still unidentified driver of the Audi used Kaihau’s gun to fire the first shot at the Toyota, which missed and caused the target to speed away.
Kaihau then fired from the passenger seat – aiming at the back of the bolting Caldina.
Pellets from the shot shattered the car’s back windscreen and peppered the rear roof inside.
Nearby police heard the bang and spotted the Audi undertaking the other car at speed and making its getaway.
The shooters raced across Auckland while being tracked by police via CCTV cameras.
They stopped at Kaihau’s father’s Māngere Bridge home and ran inside his unit with the gun.
Knowing police were on their way, they asked a man inside to drive them, and he did so in his Ford Falcon.
It was during this time Kaihau texted his partner saying “I have f***ed up” and asked her to meet him at a Clendon Park address before he was arrested.
Police caught up with the car on Roscommon Rd, and at the intersection of Volger Rd “multiple” cars activated their red and blue lights and their sirens.
Kaihau told his driver to ignore the police cars and keep going, and they ran several red lights while being pursued for 3km.
When the Ford stopped in a driveway in Clendon Park, Kaihau was arrested and the shotgun was found inside the car with a single, spent cartridge in its chamber.
A prison beating
Kaihau was also charged for his role in an earlier group prison assault.
The Auckland District Court heard that while locked up, he and several other inmates stood around the victim, who had his back against the wall.
Kaihau punched the man in the head four times. The victim was also punched and kicked by others.
Crown prosecutor Liesel Seybold said Kaihau was on a sentence of intensive supervision for firearms charges at the time of the shooting.
She said at the previous sentencing, the judge gave him the “benefit of the doubt” and a community-based sentence, lessened for his background factors.
This time, his difficult background should not be given as much weight during sentencing, she said.
“We’re in circumstances where he’s offended four months later, in an escalated manner,” she said.
Kaihau’s lawyer Emma Priest said the shot fired by her client was directed into the roof of the car, and not towards the passenger’s bodies.
She asked the judge to take the man’s addiction disorder, cultural background and the effect of incarceration on his six children into account.
He had “all the hallmarks” of deprivation, she said, with exposure to gangs, violence, drugs and alcohol at a young age.
Judge Belinda Sellars said she would not “turn her back” on the defendant’s background factors, but they were tempered by his offending while on sentence.
For discharging the firearm with reckless disregard and injuring with intent to injure his prison victim, Kaihau was sentenced to two years, eight months’ imprisonment.
Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice related stories.
