Criminal couple run into dead-end road

By TONY WALL

It began in a downtown sex shop and ended in a Pakuranga swamp - a month-long, Bonnie and Clyde-style robbery spree that netted thousands and terrorised workers across Auckland.

The culprits: Allan Tupou Noga, a 29-year-old serial burglar fresh from jail in Australia and Jennifer Leone, his 28-year-old girlfriend and mother of his baby.

Police say the crime binge was partly motivated by a need to pay off debts built up through Noga's use of the notorious drug crystal methamphetamine, or P (pure).

The pair and two alleged accomplices struck at TABs and video stores last June, at a time when workers' nerves were already frayed after the murder and robbery spree of Ese Junior Falealii.

Like Falealii, Noga and Leone have admitted their crimes, pleading guilty to multiple armed robbery counts. The pair, associates of the King Cobras gang, are to be sentenced on January 30. The other two accused have pleaded not guilty.

Noga moved from Auckland to Queensland in the 1990s and embarked on a series of burglaries that landed him a hefty 11 1/2 -year jail sentence.

Leone stuck by her man, visiting Noga regularly in a Brisbane prison. He served 5 1/2 years and then Australian authorities deported him to New Zealand in mid-2001.

Noga and Leone moved into a flat in Panmure with another couple and he got a job in a sheet-metal factory in East Tamaki.

It is understood Noga built up a liking for P - the drug that has been blamed for causing social damage across Auckland and has been linked to a number of crime sprees - and got badly into debt.

Last June 1, Noga and Leone went into The Den adult sex shop in Wyndham St and Noga asked the manager to show him a penis pump and explain how it worked.

When the manager turned his back, Noga grabbed him and threw him to the ground, then dragged him to the till and forced him to open it. Leone reached in and grabbed about $200. They left the manager in a rear room and fled.

The following day the couple and another man targeted the Video Ezy store in St Heliers. Leone acted as the getaway driver. Brandishing a Machete, Noga and his accomplice took money from the tills and thousands from the wallet of an attendant who had just sold his car.

On June 28, Noga stole a car from Auckland city to use as a getaway vehicle that night. He and a male accomplice went into the Pakuranga Video Ezy armed with a cut-down rifle and forced the attendant to lie on the floor.

Noga raided the tills, took a number of Playstation games and fled, dumping the stolen car nearby. The next day Noga and two associates raided the TAB in Mission Bay, again using the sawn-off rifle. The three female attendants expected to be shot as they handed over several thousand dollars - Falealii had struck at the nearby St Heliers TAB just weeks before.

A St Heliers TAB staff member was working at the Mission Bay outlet the day Noga struck. She told the Weekend Herald the robbery had left her too terrified to return to work.

"I'm still getting over the trauma of it. I had to leave the job, I just didn't feel safe any more ... I couldn't sleep alone in the house, I barricaded myself in, I was scared to leave my flat even in the day time."

Thankfully for the traumatised workers, Noga's spree was almost at an end. His final robbery happened on the cold, rainy morning of July 6, at the Highland Park TAB. Noga and another man burst in armed with the rifle and made the 12 customers lie on the floor. Those too old to lie down were forced to kneel. Noga jumped the counter and rifled through the tills.

But armed police were already on their way, as witnesses had seen the men run in.

The pair ran outside, laughing, and threw the money and gun in the back seat of the stolen getaway car.

Armed detectives arrived just as Noga was driving off, and gave chase through Pakuranga Heights to the dead-end industrial street Rylock Pl.

Noga ditched the car and ran into a mangrove swamp on the edge of the Pakuranga Creek.

He waded through the swamp, then stripped off his outer clothes and buried them in the mud. He threw his shoes away and buried his bag of money, about $1700.

He then covered himself in mud and lay motionless in the mangroves. Police officers had caught and handcuffed Noga's accomplice and now they followed him into the swamp. But he was well camouflaged and they walked straight past him.

Noga waited until the officers were further away, then got up and sprinted back to the industrial estate, where he prised open a shipping container, slipped inside and sat for 10 hours until police had left the area.

He and Leone returned to the swamp about a week later and dug up the loot, using the money to buy food and giving the rest to relatives.

Police had recovered security camera footage from the TAB and it appeared in the New Zealand Herald's Crime Scene section.

A member of Noga's family saw it and contacted police.

Noga was arrested and admitted all the robberies. Leone was arrested the next day.

Noga pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated robbery, three of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and three of using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Leone admitted one charge of aggravated robbery and one of being an accessory after the fact.

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Andrew Berry, said the main reason for the crime spree appeared to be to pay off debts, including drug debts, although the couple also gave away money as gifts.

"The frequency with which they were committing robberies was alarming, as was their obvious willingness to point firearms at the public. They certainly traumatised a large number of people."