Judge jails Lake Tukaki-Kiwara for three years over Hamilton liquor store attack

A worker at the Dinsdale Bottle-O is still suffering psychologically after an armed robbery by four people in December last year. Photo / Belinda Feek

A liquor store worker still grapples with the fear of being slashed and beaten during a violent armed burglary.

The man was hospitalised, then had to endure face three months of GP visits and the crumbling of his relationship after the incident at The Bottle-O in Dinsdale, Hamilton.

It was about 9.25pm on December 16, last year, when Lake Tukaki-Kiwara and three others turned up at the store in a stolen blue Subaru. Their faces were covered and one associate was armed with a large knife.

The victim and his partner were working that night. One associate ran behind the counter and got involved in a tussle with the victim, as he tried to hold onto him.

Meanwhile, Tukaki-Kiwara threw a bottle at the victim hitting him in the face as the victim’s partner closed the security roller door.

The group managed to open it and ran, but the fourth offender was still struggling with the victim, and used the knife to strike him on the hand.

He fell to the ground, but pulled the offender down with him. His co-offenders, including Tukaki-Kiwara, ran back in to get their associate and began kicking and punching the victim on the ground to let him go.

They eventually fled empty-handed.

‘I want to forget all about it’

In his victim impact statement read to the court during Tukaki-Kiwara’s sentencing the victim said the incident had affected him hugely.

“I have a large laceration to my hand and head. I had to have surgery and received stitches, and had three days in hospital.”

He then spent the next three months attending visits to his GP who told him he was “very lucky”.

He couldn’t work for three months and was now on medication for his nerves.

“I’m still very scared of people when I see people wearing hoodies ... I don’t trust anyone.”

He lost his relationship with his partner because she said his personality changed.

“It’s been nearly a year and I still feel uncomfortable. I want to forget about it all.”

Counsel Jessica Tarrant said Tukaki-Kiwara had been offered a job since taking part in rehabilitative courses.

She urged discounts for his guilty plea, time on electronically monitored bail, and his young age. He was 17 at the time but has since turned 18.

Crown solicitor Kasey Dillon said the attack — classified as an aggravated burglary because nothing was stolen — was planned and pre-meditated and the impact on the victim was significant.

Tukaki-Kiwara was also responsible for throwing a bottle of alcohol at the victim’s face, leaving him with scratches.

Judge Noel Cocurullo said those involved “offended in a profoundly serious way”.

“The violence extends to weapons with severe injuries to the occupier,” he said.

Judge Cocurullo took a starting point of five years in prison and agreed to give discounts for his guilty plea, youth, and time spent on electronically monitored bail.

He jailed Tukaki-Kiwara for three years and four months and disqualified him from driving for 12 months on two charges of motor vehicle conversion.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.