Glen Eden machete attack: Sentence reduction rejected for duo who hospitalised rival Head Hunters member

Two alleged Comancheros gang associates who hit a patched Head Hunters member with their Audi, following up with a brutal machete and hunting knife attack as the victim writhed in pain unable to stand, have failed in their joint attempt to get their prison sentences overturned.

Tarat Bakhshi, then 23, was sentenced in Auckland District Court last year to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, while co-defendant Adil Tajek, then 20, was handed a three-year sentence.

During a hearing last month in the High Court at Auckland, defence lawyer Ashley Gruebner argued the District Court judge had been too harsh in her assessment of the crime. Tajek, because of his youth and troubled upbringing, should instead serve a sentence of home detention, she suggested.

The duo travelled to West Auckland suburb Glen Eden on the afternoon of November 24, 2021, looking for victim Clive Henry, court documents state. They spotted him at a residential cul-de-sac about 40 minutes later but attempted to flee after realising they were outnumbered, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. Henry’s associates had blocked the cul-de-sac exit with a Mercedes and one of them was holding a baseball bat. The duo drove towards a gap where Henry was standing, hitting both a parked van and Henry.

“Mr Henry, writhing and screaming in pain, attempted to crawl off the road,” court documents state.

During the September hearing and again during the appeal hearing last month, the duo’s lawyers suggested little if any emphasis should have been put on pre-meditation since they attempted to flee before the knife attack. But Crown prosecutor Philippa McNabb noted that the victim’s associates had fled the scene after the crash and so could have the defendants.

“I agree with the analysis of [District Court] Judge [Kirsten Lummis] that the thwarted initial attempt to leave does not undermine the premeditation that went into planning the confrontation,” High Court Justice Laura O’Gorman wrote in a 10-page reserved decision that was recently released to the Herald. “This is also consistent with the appellants carrying on with the intended attack after the victim’s associates had fled.

“Accordingly, I see no error in the [sentencing] judge treating this as a significant aggravating feature of the offending.”

Armed police officers at Virgo Place, in Glen Eden, after a Head Hunters member was hit by a car then attacked with a machete and a hunting knife. Photo / Alex Burton

The crash alone caused the victim to suffer a wound to his lower left leg, a fractured rib, compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula, and a damaged kneecap. He then received “significant lacerations” during the “prolonged attack” that followed, resulting in a collapsed lung, three surgeries and 12 days in a hospital.

As often happens when a gang member is considered the victim, Henry declined to participate in the court process or give a victim impact statement. Despite that, Judge Lummis took into account the psychological harm she inferred he must have suffered as a result. That was a mistake, the defence also argued, but the High Court judge disagreed.

“I see no error that needs correction in treating the extent of harm as an aggravating factor in this case,” O’Gorman wrote.

Alleged Comancheros gang associates Adil Tajek (left), Tawaab Bakhshi, Mohammed Yusuf Bagni-Vohra and Tarat Bakhshi appear in Auckland District Court for sentencing in September. Photo / Craig Kapitan

The duo was joined in the District Court dock in September by alleged gang associates Tawaab Bakshi, 26, and Mohammed Yusuf Bagni-Vohra, 22, who were in a different car and did not participate in the attack. They were both sentenced to 200 hours’ community work for being an accessory after the fact.

Gang affiliations were removed from the agreed summary of facts for the case and the men’s lawyers disputed outside court that their clients were gang members. Police, however, have previously identified all four men as Comancheros members.

A Comancheros patch.

A high-ranking Comancheros member sat in the gallery during the sentencing, and it was acknowledged that one of the men had previously breached bail by participating in a Comancheros motorcycle run. The defendants were previously granted name suppression - in part, a previous defence lawyer argued, so as not to add fuel to gang tensions in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

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.