Auckland bus attack: Justin Waipouri jailed for unprovoked stabbing of fellow passenger in Newmarket

Methamphetamine addict Justin Coy Waipouri had not slept in three days when he turned to a stranger seated near him on an Auckland bus and began to stab him without warning.

Now the 46-year-old has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court for the brutal and unprovoked attack, which he acknowledges was “foolish” and something he regrets.

“What happened on that bus was unacceptable,” Judge Peter Winter said before ordering a sentence of three years’ imprisonment, adding that commuters should be entitled to take public transit without the fear of random violence.

The attack occurred just before 9.30pm one Thursday in May 2022 as the Auckland Transport bus travelled along Broadway in Newmarket. Waipouri and the victim were both on the rear seat of the bus, with another passenger between them.

“As the bus neared the intersection of Remuera Rd and Broadway, Mr Waipouri began behaving erratically, punching the ceiling and complaining of the air conditioning,” the agreed summary of facts for the case states. “[The victim] intervened by telling Mr Waipouri to relax and calm down.

“This enraged Mr Waipouri ...”

The defendant then lunged at the victim, throwing punches.

“Using a knife or similar bladed item, Mr Waipouri stabbed [the stranger] four times, thrice in the torso and one in the neck,” court documents state.

The defendant later said he had been up for several days due to methamphetamine use and wasn’t thinking clearly. He had got it in his mind that the stranger was about to attack him so he struck first, he explained.

Waipouri got off the bus after the attack and tried to flag down another bus. When the bus driver refused to open the door for him, Waipouri struck the bus, smashing the glass. For that incident, he was charged with intentional damage.

Auckland resident Justin Waipouri has been sentenced for a May 2022 stabbing in which he attacked a stranger on a bus in Newmarket. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Waipouri pleaded guilty to both charges last June and had been awaiting sentencing since.

In a victim impact statement written two weeks after the incident, the man who was stabbed said he still hadn’t returned to work as a result of his serious but not life-threatening injuries.

“I don’t know why the male attacked me,” the victim wrote. “I was just trying to help him and calm him down.”

He said he was fearful that Waipouri might be granted bail since the victim would soon have to start using the bus again to get to work.

“I’m afraid something like this might happen again,” he said.

Waipouri was granted electronically monitored bail in April last year so he could enrol at Grace Foundation, a live-in rehabilitation facility. But he absconded from the facility in September and was at-large for six months before being arrested again in March this year. He had been in custody since then.

During Friday’s hearing, Judge Winter ordered Waipouri’s sentence to be extended by one month for his time as a fugitive, with another month added for his damage to the other bus and four months added for his extensive criminal history, which included a prior robbery and an unrelated attack.

But those were countered by sentence reductions for his guilty pleas, his rehabilitative efforts and for a difficult childhood that included him being introduced to methamphetamine by his mother, whom he described as an addict and dealer.

Crown prosecutor Nastassia Pearce-Bernie agreed that Waipouri deserved credits for his guilty plea and background but suggested he should not get two separate discounts - as proposed by the defence - for his rehabilitative efforts and his time on restrictive bail. The judge agreed, saying he wouldn’t give Waipouri any credit for time on bail because he took advantage of it to go missing for months.

Defence lawyer Esther Kim said that while her client’s bail jump prevented him graduating from the rehab programme, his rehabilitative effort has been “above and beyond” and largely self-driven.

“The offending did occur at the peak of his addiction,” she said. “Mr Waipouri has certainly come a long way since then.”

The father-of-seven has genuine remorse for what occurred and wants to start fresh after release from prison, perhaps using his carpentry qualifications to earn a living, the court was told. He also wanted re-establish a relationship with his children.

Judge Winter acknowledged the rehab efforts. He noted that Waipouri had been assessed as a high risk of reoffending and of harming others but was also observed to be well-read and intelligent.

“I hope you follow through with that goal [of kicking drugs] and you realise the life that you’ve been living is only going to make you reoffend and come back before this court,” he said.

Friday’s sentencing marked the second one at Auckland District Court this week for a violent knife attack involving an Auckland Transport bus.

Brian Baldwin, a passenger with a long history of knife attacks, was sentenced by another judge on Monday to two years and 10 months’ imprisonment for a March 2023 attack on a bus driver he had drunkenly challenged to a fight after his Hop card didn’t work. Like Waipouri, Baldwin was initially charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

Baldwin later pleaded guilty to a less serious wounding charge with a maximum possible sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.