Mongols associates Benjamin Moody and Steve Taylor sentenced after man beaten, ute stolen

Two Mongols associates have been sentenced after a man was beaten, had his ute keys taken from him and was forced to sign the vehicle over to the gang. Photo / George Heard

A man invited to the Mongols’ pad for a drink was later beaten, had his ute keys taken from him and was forced to sign the vehicle over to the gang.

He signed the paperwork under duress after he was told the only alternative was for him to cough up $14,000.

This week, the Christchurch District Court heard the man was at Mongols associate Benjamin Moody’s house in Christchurch on March 9 last year when Moody suggested they go to the motorcycle gang’s clubhouse in Burnham.

When the pair arrived around 5pm, former Mongols prospect Steve Graham Taylor was working the bar at the pad.

Moody and the man were there until around midnight when they returned to Moody’s home.

There, the man told Moody he planned to sleep in his ute, to which Moody responded by punching him in the face.

Moody told the man to hand over the ute keys, which, fearing he would be assaulted again, he did.

Photos of inside the Mongols gang pad in Burnham, Christchurch after police raided it as part of Operation Khan.

Moody left the address before returning shortly after with Taylor.

The man tried to leave after being punched again by Moody but Taylor and Moody followed him and told him to take a shower and go to bed.

The man complied, and when he woke around 7.30am, he asked Moody for his keys.

Moody told him Taylor had taken them and he wasn’t getting them back.

The man left the address with a friend but went back to Moody’s later in the day to try again to retrieve his keys.

Moody reiterated the keys would not be returned and told him he had disrespected the “Mongol Nation”. It was not mentioned in court why Moody believed the man had disrespected the gang.

However, Taylor told the man if he spoke to someone at the gang pad, there was a chance he could get his keys back.

Taylor and the man travelled to the pad and the man was soon told he had two options: pay the gang $14,000 or sign over his ute.

Under pressure, he signed his ute over to the Mongols and was warned not to go to the police.

However, following the incident, Moody and Taylor were arrested and Taylor told police the man had willingly signed over the vehicle to pay a debt.

Taylor said it was Moody who had assaulted the man.

Moody, when speaking with officers, admitted he had assaulted him but said he had nothing to do with taking his ute.

In court, Moody faced charges of assault and conversion of a motor vehicle in relation to the incident, and separate charges of reckless driving, failing to stop and driving contrary to an alcohol interlock licence.

Taylor was charged with conversion of a motor vehicle, and also faced unrelated charges of possession of an offensive weapon and driving while disqualified.

Judge Tom Gilbert described the ute ordeal as a traumatic experience for the man.

“This was a very nasty incident; there could have been a more serious charge,” he said.

The court heard the man sustained black eyes, bruising to his nose, face and head, cuts to his lip and the inside of his mouth, scraped knees, bruising and scrapes to his hands, and a bump on the back of his head.

Judge Gilbert said Taylor’s involvement was less than Moody’s and noted Taylor had since left the gang and was an engaged father.

He sentenced him to 10 months’ home detention while Moody was jailed for 21 months.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.