Christchurch masked gunman Douglas Roake declined parole - again

A masked gunman who shot two women during a home invasion and robbed six Canterbury pubs and bars at gunpoint during a five-week reign of terror, has been declined parole – again.

In 2017, Douglas Anderson Roake was jailed for 13 years and eight months with a minimum non-parole period of six-and-a-half years for his terrifying crime spree, which included stealing more than $115.

The money he stole has never been recovered.

Roake, who worked as a security guard at All Blacks legend Richie McCaw’s wedding, was 23 at the time of the offending.

He appeared before the Parole Board last week and was told he would not be released.

The board is yet to release its full decision or reasons for declining parole.

But a spokeswoman confirmed Roake would remain in prison until at least April next year, when his next hearing will be scheduled.

Douglas Roake. Photo / Pool

Roake became eligible for parole in 2023.

The board released its report to the Herald soon after, describing Roake’s offending as “extremely serious and premeditated”.

Roake had no previous convictions and had struggled with “obsessive behaviour and rigid thinking patterns”.

At sentencing, Roake claimed he stole the money so he could purchase illegal body-building drugs for strongman competitions.

It was suggested he may have been affected by misuse of performance-enhancing drugs, but the sentencing judge was not convinced of a link with the offending.

The 2023 Parole Board report noted that Roake expressed “regret” for the offending, and said he knew it had caused the victims a “lifetime of trauma”.

He had been “highly motivated” to engage in treatment while in prison.

At the time, he was now assessed as posing a low risk of violent reoffending, with the risk scenario centred on manipulation by others.

“There was real cruelty and callousness in his treatment of the victims, who included people known to him who had treated him well,” the report said.

The board heard Roake was considered to be on the “reintegration pathway”.

Douglas Roake worked as a security guard at All Blacks legend Richie McCaw’s wedding.

He had been working in the Rolleston construction yard, and there were “very good” reports of his work ethic and his interactions with others.

“Mr Roake wants to return to bodybuilding but told the board he does not need to take supplements or testosterone in order to achieve this,” said the report.

Roake told the board he wanted to be released to a Canterbury address, close to the scenes of a number of his robberies.

He proposed exclusion zones in Christchurch and Rolleston to avoid contact with victims and said he would report to a probation officer in Ashburton, travelling via back routes.

But the board did not believe Roake’s treatment in prison was good enough at the time to warrant a release.

“We also have real concerns about the proposed release, essentially back to the very community he terrorised,” they said, acknowledging there were a large number of victims who were left “deeply traumatised”.

Ultimately, the board ruled there was still work for Roake to do, and he was too much of a risk to community safety for them to grant parole.

Roake’s reign of terror

After four armed robberies of pubs across Canterbury, Roake’s spree came to a terrifying crescendo on April 19, 2017.

At about 10pm, he went to a farm in Rolleston where Nicola Dawson and her daughter Michaela lived in the main house.

Her aunt Deidre Dawson lived in a barn at the property.

Heavily disguised, with a black woollen hat with the eyes cut out, Roake entered the farm carrying a long-barrelled pump-action shotgun and a black sports bag containing a mallet.

As Deidre was putting items in her car parked outside, Roake appeared, pointing the gun at her.

He ordered her into the house.

While Roake was distracted, she managed to flee and phone the police.

Roake blasted two shots into the locked front door of the main house, where the mother and daughter had been watching TV.

He told them to get on the floor and demanded money and keys to a car.

Michaela, believing she was going to be killed, refused to lie down and tried to grab the gun.

Meanwhile, 53-year-old Nicola ran from the room and phoned the police, as well as her son, who lived nearby.

Roake hit Michaela with the mallet, aiming at her head, before shooting her in the leg.

Hotel Ashburton.

She tried to run away, and Roake was bashing her again with the mallet when Nicola came back into the room and tried to strike him with a vase.

He swung the firearm toward Nicola, and he told her: “I’m going to shoot you”.

He shot her in the stomach, causing her to fall to the floor.

Her son Creighton had then arrived. Roake aimed at his head, but was out of ammunition.

After the home invasion, Roake fled to Ashburton, where he held up the Turf Bar at the Hotel Ashburton.

“This is a robbery, get inside, and lie on the ground,” he said.

He fired a shot into a wall and then two more into the cash till as he tried to open it.

He took $1645 in cash from the safe before fleeing to an address at Rakaia Huts.

Police found him the following morning, and he admitted the Ashburton robbery.

Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz

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