Gang member repeatedly strangled girlfriend, stole car from her at petrol station

Raiden Bowden Wi's former partner quickly grabbed her kids out of the car before he took off with it after she filled up with petrol at a Hamilton service station. Photo / NZME

A Mongrel Mob member repeatedly strangled his partner before turning up at a service station with associates and threatening her with a knife as she filled up with petrol.

Scared, the woman quickly pulled her two kids from the backseat before Raiden Bowden Wi fled in her vehicle.

The incident, at the Caltex Avalon Dr in Hamilton in October 2021, was the culmination of a frightening few weeks for the victim after Wi strangled her three times; one time so hard that she was left with a bruised throat.

Wi was in the Hamilton District Court recently after earlier accepting a sentence indication on charges of demanding with menace and a representative charge of strangulation.

His lawyer, Rhiannon Scott, pushed for a discount for a Section 27 report she said showed a connection between Wi’s childhood experiences and upbringing and his offending, specifically issues around adoption, and inter-generational gang membership.

He was also willing to do restorative justice, however, the victim could not be found.

Wi was now looking forward to reconnecting with his marae in Te Kūiti and has shown an interest in carving and art.

Crown prosecutor Laurie McMaster urged Judge Noel Cocurullo not to issue any discount for remorse - as it was built into Wi’s guilty plea - and said Wi had no plans to step away from the gang.

“He’s not getting anything for remorse from me,” the judge replied. “I don’t see anything over and above [what’s in] his guilty plea here.”

Judge Cocorullo said there had to be a conversation at some point in time about how gangs were treated by the courts.

“Gangs put it out there that they only do good, Ms McMaster,” the judge said.

“But when it suits their membership to come along and ask for credit because of ... their environment, they’re having their cake and eating it as well ... but it just doesn’t work that way.”

Scott replied Wi was in the midst of an intergenerational gang membership.

“It’s not that he’s chosen later on to join a gang. That was just a normal way of growing up and life for him.

“I do have to accept he’s not seeking to leave that lifestyle that’s very clear ... but just for him, that’s been more how you grow up rather than him making a choice at an age where perhaps it’s just been what’s expected of him.”

While Judge Cocurullo gave Wi discount for his guilty plea, he declined to give any for remorse, but agreed to give a further 15 per cent for Wi’s Section 27 report and his offer to attend restorative justice.

Wi was jailed for two years and nine months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.