Gang members seeking payment for debt take water blaster in Nelson home invasion

Offenders involved in a home invasion who sought items of value as collateral for a debt walked away with a water blaster. Photo / 123RF

Gang members who knocked on the door of a home, seeking payment for a debt, walked away with a water blaster.

For their part in the aggravated burglary, Samfrano Whenuapai Walker and Carl Raymond Trower were today sentenced in the Nelson District Court to two years and nine months in prison, having each pleaded guilty earlier.

The pair have already been in custody for almost a year, with any reduction in time served behind bars a decision for the parole board, Judge Jo Rielly told them.

The pair sat silently as they were jointly sentenced, each supported by a large whānau group.

They were part of a trio who knocked on the door of a Richmond home on the night of September 30 last year. The principal offender, who presented a firearm during the fight that erupted, remains unknown, Judge Rielly said.

Four people were at the address, including two men - an occupant and a visitor - a woman and an 11-year-old child.

Walker, Trower and the unknown associate drove to the address with the aim of getting either money or property to settle a debt owed by a person linked to the address, but the person was not there.

Judge Jo Rielly said Walker and Trower were "paying the ultimate price" for their misguided offending.

Walker was wearing a leather vest with a Manga Kahu Black Power patch on the back.

Trower was wearing a long-sleeved top with the Black Power emblem on the front and rear. The unidentified co-offender was also patched.

Trower climbed the closed, two-metre-high gate at the entrance to the property and walked towards the front of the house. Walker opened the gates and followed close behind.

Their associate concealed a firearm in his clothing and carried it into the property.

The three knocked on the door. The male occupant answered and spoke to the defendants.

An argument erupted over the apparent debt and the defendants demanded property as “collateral”.

The three were refused entry, and a fight broke out when they tried to force their way in. The associate then showed the occupant the 40 centimetres long, black masking-tape wrapped firearm.

He backed away and the defendants stepped into the house looking for items of value to take, the summary of facts said.

Walker entered the child’s bedroom and demanded she hand over her cell phone, but when told she didn’t have one, one of the defendants then demanded the cell phone of the woman who was in the bedroom with the child.

Instead, the occupant then offered the offenders a new, boxed water-blaster as collateral which they took, and left the house.

A police search of Walker’s address the next day found a cut-down Ruger .22 firearm under a bed, loaded with a 10-round magazine, plus a large quantity of ammunition.

The water blaster was in the vehicle that had been driven to the victim’s address with Trower’s fingerprints on the box.

Judge Rielly said the fact multiple offenders wearing gang regalia and carrying a firearm were involved were significant aggravating features, along with their willingness to conduct themselves as a group of gang members designed to induce fear aimed at forcing the home’s occupiers to hand over property.

Judge Rielly noted that Walker and Trower had acted under an element of duress when the firearm was presented, but they had gone there with the intent to commit a crime, and to extort property so were actively involved.

“Sadly, it did not register for you to leave, and to leave the victims alone in their home, at night.”

Walker’s lawyer Andrew McKenzie said his client’s time in custody had been the first time he’d sat down and had a “cold, hard look” at the events that had led him to where he was today.

McKenzie said Walker was “not your typical gang thug” and he felt bad about the hurt to which he’d contributed.

He said it was clear that Walker’s drug use had contributed to his poor decision-making and the inability to sit down and think about what he was doing.

Walker, 32, was however motivated to make sure that once out of prison he would be better equipped to handle his own journey, knowing what he needed to do to correct himself.

They were in a way “nice words from a lawyer” but Walker, who had several good things in his life, had to ability to change, Mckenzie said.

He said that Walker would now have to live up to what he’d said to the judge, to the court in front of his family and to himself.

Crown lawyer Joshua Vuataki said the cultural reports for each were “somewhat of a mixed bag”, but that the offence had involved a home invasion with a weapon.

He said personal matters disclosed by each had not been corroborated by reports and had instead been self-reported.

Judge Rielly acknowledged the remorse expressed by each, especially for the harm caused to the young victim.

She said it was “entirely misguided and unacceptable” to terrorise people in their own home, over a debt owed by others.

“You are paying the ultimate price for that,” Judge Rielly said.

She told Walker it was clear that he’s been exposed to violence, and alcohol and drug use from a young age and has suffered a parental separation, but he had done well at school until he’d “left abruptly”.

Methamphetamine use had taken over his life, but now was a good time to reflect on that. Judge Rielly said the information she had showed he was willing to undergo rehabilitation.

She said Trower has had difficulties since childhood to maintain relationships and had an alcoholic father who had let him down, but his mother and stepfather had tried to help.

He joined a gang after leaving school and then graduated to Black Power to which he had “unashamedly aligned himself”.

Judge Rielly said despite him having committed crimes to fund a meth addiction identified by drug and alcohol reports, Trower denied he had a problem.

Trower had studied while in custody in a vocation that could take him far and he aspired to return to fishing and one day buy a house, which Judge Rielly said was a responsible attitude.

She said despite the pair’s motivation to change she remained concerned about their continuing allegiance to the Black Power, which she encouraged them to now rethink.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.