Avondale homicide: Mandal Sellick sentenced to prison for manslaughter of Mars Rakeem

Sandy Younes and Mandal Sellick and the Avondale scene where Mars Rakeem was shot to death. Sellick and Younes were sentenced today for their roles in the killing. Photo / Hayden Woodward and Jason Oxenham

A Mongols-gang-affiliated 501 deportee who fatally shot a man in the stomach following an argument over the purity of drugs that had been snorted by his girlfriend was sentenced today to more than 11 years behind bars.

Mandal Francis Sellick stood in the dock in the High Court at Auckland today as the manslaughter sentence of 11 years and 10 months’ imprisonment was handed down by Justice Kiri Tahana immediately after his former partner, Sandy Younes, was given community detention and intensive supervision for her part in trying to cover up the crime.

Sellick, then 24, and Younes, 20, had been living together in West Auckland suburb Avondale in October 2021 when Younes invited friends and family over for a social gathering that resulted in the death of 28-year-old Mars Rakeem.

Rakeem, a friend of Younes’ brother, had left the house at some point in the night and returned with what was believed to be a mixture of MDMA and cocaine. The drugs were offered to Younes, who snorted them, jurors were told during Sellick’s trial in February.

A short time later, Younes went upstairs to the bedroom where Sellick had spent most of the evening and complained that the drugs had hurt her nose. Sellick thought she had been drugged, possibly with methamphetamine or crack cocaine, and he tucked a loaded pistol into his waistband before going downstairs to confront the group, it was alleged.

Sellick kicked the crowd out of their home but the group returned a short time later, and Sellick told jurors he felt threatened as a group of men surrounded him in his kitchen. Rakeem, the victim, was not among that group but Sellick said he ran into Rakeem a short time later on the stairs. Rakeem jumped at him and the gun accidentally fired in the struggle that ensured, Sellick claimed.

Jurors agreed that Sellick wasn’t guilty of murder, which would have required murderous intent, but they also rejected his account that it was an accident - instead finding him guilty of manslaughter.

Defence lawyer Claire Farquhar pointed out today that a short time before reaching a verdict the jury had sent out a note asking about reasonable force. She suggested the judge take that into account and consider it a case of excessive self-defence with unreasonable force, which is still illegal but could be considered a mitigating factor in deciding the sentence.

“I do not accept that there was a struggle,” Justice Tahana said as she announced the sentence, adding that she also did not believe the victim had threatened Sellick. “Mr Rakeem was unarmed.”

In addition to the disputed homicide charge, Sellick had pleaded guilty an hour before his trial was scheduled to begin to illegal possession of a firearm — a modified starter pistol — and possession of methamphetamine for supply.

While executing a search warrant in the days following the shooting, police found the pistol and 2.2kg of the drug.

The amount of methamphetamine made it a commercial quantity and was enough to qualify for a sentence of up to life imprisonment. Sellick’s lawyers said he was not a manager or a street-level dealer but instead had been offered $5000 to store the drugs for someone else.

Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey disagreed, pointing out that he also had scales, guns, multiple cellphones and a remotely monitored CCTV system at his home.

A homicide investigation was launched after Rakeem Mars died in Avondale, Auckland. Photo / Hayden Woodward

“Your role was significant,” the judge determined, uplifting his manslaughter sentence by six years to reflect the drug offending.

The judge also took into account that Sellick had been on bail for unlawful possession of ammunition when the shooting occurred and that he had been previously convicted of a violent robbery in Australia, leading to his deportation to New Zealand.

Sellick’s lawyers asked for a shorter sentence because he has sought to leave the Mongols. The judge denied the request but did take into account his upbringing, which included the death of his father at age 12 - shortly after moving to Australia - followed by his descent into youth crime. She also took into account his attempts to better himself while incarcerated, including courses on drug and alcohol addiction, and a letter he wrote to the victim’s mother expressing remorse.

‘Tormented’

Rakeem’s mother, however, was not ready to forgive the death of her youngest son. She was unable to attend the hearing today, but her other son - who travelled from Perth - read her victim impact statement aloud in her absence.

“I am tormented at the thought of what he endured that morning,” she said. “I wonder when he realised he was in danger... It’s torture to think about it.”

She said her son spent his last hours among people who had no regard for his life and no humanity, worrying instead about how to avoid the consequences of what they had done. She suggested Sellick killed her son because he was simply having a bad night.

“He treated my son as if he was nothing,” she said. “There is no comfort to be had. There is no consoling thought in the way Mars died.

“The thought of it is unbearable. I’m haunted by the horror of it.”

She described her son as caring, funny, clever, good at sports, handsome, a wonderful son and a “principled young man” who knew right from wrong. The defendant, she said, had never before expressed remorse for the killing.

“I don’t know how anyone could be so cruel,” she wrote. “I don’t know how he could be so cold.”

‘Dysfunctional’ relationship

Younes also submitted a letter to the court today expressing remorse for her involvement in trying to cover up the crime. She did not go to trial, instead pleading guilty to a single charge of accessory after the fact to discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of others.

After the shooting, she had demanded that others who were there that night help clean up the scene, the judge noted. She also used Sellick’s gang connections to threaten witnesses not to say anything and offered them money to keep quiet.

It resulted in some witnesses initially being reluctant to cooperate but it didn’t last long, the judge said.

Defence lawyer Tiffany Cooper, KC, asked the judge to consider the long road that led to her client’s relationship with Sellick and her involvement that night. Younes’ parents were Kurdish refugees, and the stability that New Zealand should have offered never materialised for her due to a difficult family life, Cooper said.

Younes left school at 15 and was homeless at 16. She was in a dysfunctional relationship with the father of her child before meeting Sellick, she said.

Sandy Younes appears in the High Court at Auckland, accused of aiding ex-partner Mandal Sellick after the fatal shooting of Mars Rakeem.

“Nothing prior in her life had given her self-esteem, self-worth or stability,” Cooper said, adding that when she met Sellick and he treated her with love and respect. “She thought all her dreams had come true.”

When she found out about his other side, including gangs and drugs, it was too late - she was already too entrenched in the relationship, her lawyer said.

Cooper described the relationship between the co-defendants as having been “dysfunctional” and “hard”, and noted that her client “still feels some sense of misguided loyalty” to Sellick. But Younes is “devastated” about what happened that night and for Rakeem’s family, her lawyer said.

“She realised that this young man has died for no reason at all,” Cooper said.

Justice Tahana acknowledged that Younes has had a difficult life, and that she was young when the crime occurred. The judge also observed that Younes was “visibly upset” when she pleaded guilty in February and appeared to genuinely “feel horrible and ashamed” about what happened.

She ordered a sentence of two-and-a-half months’ community detention, including an overnight curfew, paired with 12 months of intensive supervision. The sentence will allow her to continue her employment as a personal trainer and continue to contribute to her son’s upbringing, the judge said.