Kayleb Renata was already serving a life sentence for a murder committed when he was 16 when he stabbed another person at South Auckland Corrections Facility in Wiri. Photo / Supplied
A judge mused over the futility of her role this week as she ordered a new prison term for a young Mongrel Mob associate already serving a life sentence for murder.
Kayleb Renata was 16 when he fatally stabbed another man for inadvertently wearing a black baseball cap – the predominant colour of rival gang Black Power – at a birthday party in Bay of Plenty.
Now 21 and with his face covered in gang tattoos, Renata was accompanied by three guards this week as he was placed in a small prison teleconference booth to be sentenced remotely for having stabbed another man – this time behind bars.
“In my view, it’s largely academic,” Judge Soana Moala said of the newest prison term as she presided over the hearing from Manukau District Court.
By law, the four-year sentence she imposed would run concurrent with his existing term, she explained to him.
It will have long since finished by the time his 10-year minimum term of imprisonment for the murder conviction has expired, allowing him to start applying for parole.
“I take into account something terrible – or lots of terrible things – happened to you for you to be sentenced for murder at the age of 17,” the judge said.
She described a report into his background, prepared for his previous sentencing but repurposed for the current case, as “very sad reading”.
“It seems to me like you never really had a chance, given your background.”
Renata’s latest case involved an incident on a Sunday afternoon last November that occurred while serving his sentence at South Auckland Corrections Facility in Wiri.
He didn’t start the fight but kept stabbing even as prison officers tried to intervene. The victim was hospitalised with a collapsed lung.
Court documents state Renata and two co-defendants were in the same day room when the victim approached and punched an elderly inmate who was sitting on a table.
The initial aggressor soon became the attacked as others in the room surrounded him and started throwing punches and kicks. At least two others stabbed the victim repeatedly in the back.
Corrections officers tried to drag the victim to a safe room, during which the inmate narrowly missed getting stabbed in the face by another attacker, according to the summary of facts Renata agreed to.
“Two other prisoners took hold of the victim’s left arm, preventing corrections officers from pulling the victim to safety,” court documents state.
“As the other prisoners held the victim’s arm, the defendant Renata picked up a crate and struck the victim’s arm three times before stabbing him a further five times in the arm.”
The violent incident lasted almost three and a half minutes before officers were able to pull the victim to safety and get him to a hospital.
This week’s sentencing came days after the Supreme Court declined to re-evaluate Renata’s murder sentence.
His lawyers had argued unsuccessfully to the Court of Appeal that a life sentence should not have been imposed because of his young age at the time of the killing.
Renata and older co-defendant Roger Tutakangahau attacked fellow partygoer Jamaine Wharton at the Waiohau Rugby Club, 40km south of Whakatāne, in February 2021.
Tutakangahau, who was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, had started the attack mistakenly thinking the victim was affiliated with Black Power.
Wharton declined to fight, then tried to run away after Tutakangahau, Renata and others began throwing punches anyway. The group followed, barking before knocking him to the ground, kicking and stomping on him.
“Get him!” Tutakangahau yelled to Renata when Wharton tried to escape again.
Renata complied. He stabbed the victim three times after catching up to him.
At his sentencing at the High Court at Rotorua in October 2022, Justice Paul Davison agreed with lawyers on both sides that life imprisonment would not be manifestly unjust despite Renata’s age.
“Simply put, your offending involved a senseless and savage beating of an innocent man who had done nothing whatsoever to provoke you, who posed no threat whatsoever to you, and who was outnumbered by you and your associates three to one,” the judge said, noting the victim was “utterly defenceless on the ground” when Renata’s final stab wound was inflicted.
Reports prepared for the court before the murder sentencing suggested Renata had little remorse.
“I love the life I live,” he was reported to have said, adding later he would rather rob people than work as a labourer for “s*** money”.
“Love being mischief, being bad,” he said. “I thrive off it.”
The High Court judge described him as “wholly ill-equipped to deal with life as an adult outside of prison”.
“It is clear that you will need a significant amount of rehabilitative effort and support before you will be able to safely reintegrate into the community without remaining a significant risk to the public,” he said.
For the most recent case, Renata faced an additional sentence of up to 14 years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Crown prosecutor Keiana Arona and defence lawyer Caitlin Gentleman had little to debate over the sentence. Both agreed a seven-year starting point would be suitable, followed by a 25% reduction for his guilty plea and 10% for his youth and background.
The judge interjected 10% seemed low before reiterating it was probably academic anyway.
“I know he is probably in a space where he doesn’t care,” the judge said.
“But in so many ways, the place where he’s ended up is not his fault.”
The judge noted the defendant’s mother was a methamphetamine addict who smoked cannabis and drank heavily while she was pregnant with him. He was raised instead by his father, who was affiliated with the Mongrel Mob, and was exposed to violence, drugs and gang life from an early age.
“It looks like the gang, the Mongrel Mob, was your main support,” the judge said. “You grew up around them.”
By age 14, Renata was also using methamphetamine and various other drugs. He dropped out of school early.
The judge described Renata’s description of the violence inside prison as something that is “frightening for the community to know”. He claimed carrying a shank and strengthening his affiliation with the gang were necessary for protection.
Judge Moala allowed a 20% discount for background, higher than both sides had sought, to “acknowledge that you were on a path from a very young age – from the womb, probably”.
He won’t be eligible to begin applying for parole until the early 2030s.
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.
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