He again pushed the woman away as she returned with the cello-tape dispenser and tried to strike him.
“As Mr Kite continued to take money from the counter area, [the same woman] took the opportunity and exited the store [and] attempted to contain him inside by closing the entrance doors,” court documents state.
The teen managed to force his way out of the store, fleeing on foot with about $200 and the entire cash register in tow. But with his exit delayed by the quick-thinking shopkeeper’s actions, police were able to arrive not too long after, Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong said at the time of the incident.
Kite had thrown the till in nearby scrub but was identified and taken into custody a short distance from the store, authorities said.
He explained to police at the time that he needed the money for medicine to treat an illness. He would later reveal to the court that he had been high on methamphetamine at the time.
Kite pleaded guilty to the charge in February and defence lawyer Baden Meyer asked during the recent hearing that his client receive home detention, taking into consideration the substantial amount of time his client had already spent in jail awaiting sentencing. Crown prosecutor Seleti Taimani did not oppose.
“It’s been a difficult process for him,” Meyer said of the teen’s time as a barely-adult prisoner, adding that he understood it was a necessary albeit uncomfortable wake-up call.
Judge Stephen Bonnar determined a starting point for Kite’s sentence of four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment, but he then applied substantial discounts for the defendant’s guilty plea, youth and prospects for rehabilitation and for his troubled upbringing.
“This must have been a terrifying event for her,” the judge said of the victim, who did not attend the hearing or provide an impact statement. “It’s not a lot of money to potentially end up spending many years in prison. It’s not worth it.
“But it is a lot of money to a small shop owner.”
The judge acknowledged that the teen’s time in prison has resulted in “significant isolation” and has been “challenging”. He noted that Kite has been assessed as a medium risk for re-offending but probation recommended a sentence of home detention so he could have access to rehabilitative programmes.
“You are the product of inter-generational criminal offending and imprisonment,” the judge said, noting that Kite’s father has been repeatedly in and out of prison.
“There is hope for you, but you need to take this opportunity to turn your life around because you won’t get another opportunity,” the judge said, announcing an end sentence of eight months’ home detention. “It is in the interest of the community long-term that you do get rehabilitative programmes and turn your life around.”
The 10 months already in prison for the charge would have given him a strong taste of what his future could behold if his claims of “significant remorse and shame” weren’t genuine, the judge added.
“There’s only one path you will face if you offend again,” he repeated. “It will be the way of your father.”
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.
