Fugitive 'hurtled' into life of crime

By SCOTT INGLIS and BRONWYN SELL

Charles Paki was 12 when he stole chocolate from a shop.

Six years later, he has graduated to armed robbery, police bashing and escape from custody.

Paki and accomplice Tasi Fepale were still on the run last night after beating Senior Constable Jim Davey during a daring escape from Tokoroa police station on Monday night.

They stole an unmarked police car, drove to Auckland between 7 pm and 8.30 pm then dumped the vehicle in Mt Wellington.

Senior Constable Davey is in Waikato Hospital with moderate injuries and a huge police hunt is under way.

Last Thursday, the pair had pleaded guilty to seven armed robberies when they appeared in the Taupo District Court and had been remanded in custody for sentencing in the Rotorua District Court on July 20.

Last night, Paki phoned his upset mother, Aucklander Audrey Smith, and she begged her only child to give himself up.

He refused. He told her that he and Fepale were fed up with being held at the Tokoroa police station. He said they had been "lucky to get showers" and had not been allowed to brush their teeth. The food was also "horrible."

"He was angry," Miss Smith said. She told the Herald she wished her 18-year-old would realise he was hurting her and others. "I hope there's no trouble and he gives himself up peacefully."

Paki went from shoplifter to fugitive in just six years.

Miss Smith and Paki's father separated 17 years ago and she took her boy to Sydney. He attended Fairfield Public School and was a keen rugby league player, school prefect and was interested in arts and music.

But at 12, he was caught stealing chocolate from a shop and Miss Smith sent him to live with family back in New Zealand.

"Charlie came back looking for a father figure and found his father but realised ... he [couldn't] stand him."

By 16 he had become an accomplished car thief and was jailed for that and burglary and assault. He then spent nine months dealing with a cannabis problem at Odyssey House in Auckland.

Just before last Christmas he was in trouble again after badly assaulting two Russian sailors in a Queen St brawl and was jailed for four months.

After being freed, he spent some time living with his mother in Mt Roskill but in "the last four weeks he started going downhill."

On the weekend of June 24 and 25, his life took another turn for the worse. He and Fepale went on a two-day robbery rampage, raiding six service stations and a takeaway bar in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Taupo and Turangi.

They were armed and masked. The Taupo District Court had heard the pair were prepared to shoot people to get away. They were remanded to Waikeria Prison.

Miss Smith spent all of Monday trying to find out where her son was. She said police told her he was at Waikeria but staff there told her he had not arrived. Waikeria remand wing had made room for the pair.

Tokoroa police refuse to say why they were keeping the pair at their station, which can legally serve as a jail.

Miss Smith did not know her son had escaped until a brother-in-law rang her yesterday morning. "I was bawling ... He's my only child. I love him but he's doing wrong. I'm sorry for what he has done."

Meanwhile, Senior Constable Davey, who suffered a black eye and cuts to his face and hand, yesterday told how the pair attacked him. He opened the cell door to deliver them dinner and was overpowered by a "tirade of punches."

The prisoners fled, and he staggered to his feet to raise the alarm. Senior Constable Davey said the attack had not put him off the job. "It was just a matter of circumstances - time and place."