A judge has granted mercy to a teen arsonist who suffered burns to roughly 75% of his body after things went pear-shaped as he burned down an East Auckland barber shop.
A nearby security camera caught the moment Stefan Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu, now 20, emerged from One Two Upper Cuts engulfed in flames on the morning of August 3 last year.
“You had such a different future before you got involved in this offending,” Judge Soana Moala said on Friday as Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu sat in a wheelchair at the back of a Manukau courtroom.
“I know that you will carry the scars of your offending for a very long time.”
He and 19-year-old accomplice Jayden Tutu were both sentenced to 11 months’ home detention.
It is not known why the two participated in the scheme, which resulted in $110,000 in damage to the Highbrook-based business. But court documents outline in detail how it took place.
Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu had asked Tutu to be a getaway driver for the arson, offering to pay him.
Tutu picked up Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu and a young person known as “Gunz” in his mother’s Toyota, and they put false number plates on the vehicle before driving to the Harris Road business.
“One of the defendants was carrying a box containing bottles with an accelerant in them,” court documents state. “When they got to the barber shop, one of the defendants smashed open a glass panel of the entrance door ... and climbed inside.”
The trio spent about one minute spreading the accelerant before Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu went to the corner of the shop and ignited it. All three were still inside, and Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu immediately became engulfed in flames.
CCTV showed all three stumbling out of the shop. Two of them were on fire, but Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu suffered the worst injuries.
Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu was dropped off at his Mangere East home, but he came to the attention of authorities later that morning after his mother called an ambulance and he was taken to Middlemore Hospital.
He was still at the hospital three months later when police spoke to him. He said he had no memory of the events leading up to his hospitalisation.
“I’m not saying I didn’t do it,” he explained. “I’m just saying I can’t remember.”
There was standing room only in the courtroom’s large gallery during the pair’s sentencing as a crowd gathered to show their support for the two defendants.
Tutu had pleaded guilty in July following a sentence indication hearing in which another judge set a starting point of four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.
Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu pleaded guilty a couple weeks later without a sentence indication. His lawyer, Fred Choi, asked the judge for a slightly shorter sentence than his co-defendant based on the defendant’s ongoing recovery.
He had previously studied in Australia and wanted to pursue a career in coaching or refereeing, Choi said, adding that his client is now grappling with “the damning reality that because of his actions, his dreams of being a musician or a sportsman are a distant reality”.
The Crown disagreed that Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu should have a lower starting point than his co-defendant, noting that it was he who organised the arson and lit the accelerant.
“The reason why the fire was as extensive as it was is because of Mr Fonua,” said prosecutor Kim McCoy, pointing out that adjoining businesses also were affected due to smoke damage.
But regardless, McCoy said, “I think we’re looking at a community-based sentence.”
Defence lawyers readily agreed.
“It’s clear that Mr Tutu is remorseful,” said defence lawyer Sean Tang, describing the arson as an isolated incident.
The judge also agreed, noting that neither man had any prior history of arson before their “terrible decision”.
“You are remorseful - there’s no doubt in my mind,” she said of Tutu, pointing to his rehabilitative work and offer to sell his car to pay restitution.
She added a short time later to Fonua Ula Tufa’anatu: “I have no doubt that with the support of your family as well, I won’t be seeing you in court again.”
Brief applause erupted from the gallery as the judge announced her decision for a non-custodial sentence.
The August 2024 fire marked the second time a One Two Upper Cuts barbershop had been investigated for arson last year. The company’s other location, on Weymouth Rd in Manurewa, was gutted in January.
The prior blaze was not mentioned in court this week or in any court documents relating to the two defendants. They have not been accused of setting that fire.
In a Givealittle fundraiser last year, it was noted that the Manurewa store didn’t have insurance. That location reopened this week.
Judge Moala emphasised during the sentencing that she had no victim impact statements or information about potential reparation from the victims.
The court was told the victims weren’t interested in participating in the judicial process and had declined to meet with the defendants for a restorative justice meeting.
For over a year, the company has had a quote in bold yellow lettering at the top of its website: “From the ashes, we will rise.”
“These idiots burnt our shop and burnt themselves,” the business owner wrote on Instagram shortly after the second blaze.
A spokesperson later said it was “disheartening” to lose everything they had “worked so hard to build”.
“Also, a certain anxiety for the future of our store but we’re getting back up for all of those that ever pursued a dream and refuse to give up.”
The second One Two Upper Cuts blaze occurred just one week after another Auckland barbershop had been targeted.
Bentleys Barbers in Royal Oak was destroyed in the blaze after Molotov cocktails were lobbed inside the business through a smashed front window.
The property manager for the business told the Herald at the time that he didn’t know why someone would target the shop, but “someone was clearly mad at them”.
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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