Prison ordered for Kodie Remana, shot by police in Grey Lynn standoff

A man who arrived at an Auckland residence with a pump-action shotgun last year - firing five shots into the home before approaching police and getting shot in the abdomen - had months earlier been the victim of a vicious Waikato Expressway gang attack that left him with brain damage.

Details of Kodie Dakota Anthony Johnny Remana’s case were made public for the first time this afternoon as he appeared for sentencing in Auckland District Court, where he gingerly hobbled into the dock, his offset balance indicative of someone with a lingering head injury.

“It’s incredibly lucky that the victim was not at home,” Judge Kirsten Lummis told the 33-year-old as she ordered two years and five months’ imprisonment, with an additional stipulation he serves at least half the sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Police rushed to the Wallingford St property in Grey Lynn on the evening of July 18 last year after multiple neighbours reported the gunshots. The focus of his ire was his former foster mother, who had previously moved out of the residence out of fear for Remana but had continued to stay there infrequently.

“Get the f*** out here you piece of s***!” he yelled as he banged on the front door and fired multiple shots into it over the course of about 10 minutes. “I’m going to blow holes in you, you f***ing bitch! I’ll f***ing kill you.”

He fired an additional shot into a bedroom window and pointed the illegally obtained firearm at a neighbour who had yelled through a window for him to put the gun down.

Police arrived at the property about 11 minutes after Remana and announced their presence by yelling: “Show me your hands, armed police!”

But instead of complying, Remana began to cross the road towards officers with the shotgun still in his hands.

“Mr Remana moved within approximately five metres of police at which time police fired a single shot which hit Mr Remana in his front abdomen and immediately incapacitated him,” court documents state.

Later charged with aggravated burglary, careless use of a firearm and presenting a firearm at a police officer, Remana was unable to attend his initial court hearings because he remained hospitalised in critical condition from the gunshot wound.

It had not been his first lengthy hospitalisation that year.

In March, he had been followed by a large motorbike convoy of Tribesmen gang members on Waikato Expressway before he was allegedly pulled out of his vehicle, swarmed by a group of men and beaten to the point he suffered brain damage.

More than two dozen motorists witnessed the incident, which resulted in a months-long investigation.

“There was a gentleman on the ground, his face covered in blood,” one bystander told NZME at the time. “He was lying on his back and his shirt was off and his pants were half down. I thought he had passed away, he looked lifeless. It was terrible.”

Three Tribesmen gang members were arrested in June last year, a month before Remana was shot by police.

During a sentence indication hearing for Remana earlier this year, defence lawyer Matthew Goodwin suggested there was a strong connection between the lasting injuries his client suffered and his behaviour with the shotgun months later. He submitted a report from a clinical neuropsychologist that suggested Remana had been in a “very vulnerable state neurologically and psychologically” when he discharged himself against medical advice about a month into the first hospitalisation.

The brain injury appeared to have left Remana with reduced capacity to control his impulses and emotions, as well as worsened judgment and in an “unstable state”, the expert noted.

Judge Lummis noted today Remana had never before been before the courts prior to the shooting. She gave him a discount off his end sentence for previous good behaviour, as well as credits for his guilty plea, the neurological report and for traumatic events from his childhood.

“I accept it was a complex situation and your cognitive impairment directly impacted your ability to make good decisions,” the judge noted.

Lummis was given a victim impact report from the woman Remana intended to target that day but the woman did not appear in court and the statement was not read aloud. Police, however, did attend the hearing.

Remana flashed a wide smile as he left the courtroom, wishing the judge a merry Christmas.

The judge declined the Herald’s request to take a photo, citing the defendant’s ongoing health condition.

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.