The man was sentenced in the Wellington High Court this morning.
A Wellington man accidentally swept up in a failed murder plot while catching a ride home with mates has been sentenced for helping to conceal some of the evidence.
Bo-Dean Tua said “shock and panic” prompted him to help his co-defendants dump a car they had been driving around the time of the serious attack, which happened in 2021.
He has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to attempted murder, and appeared in the Wellington High Court this morning for sentencing.
Justice Francis Cooke said Tua had dropped a car off at his sister’s home in Kāpiti that day and, along with his Bichon Frise dog, got in a car with his “associates” to get a ride home.
The group travelled towards Wellington, but stopped at a location in Porirua, where his associate got out of the car with a firearm and shot the victim, seriously wounding him. Tua stayed in the car and witnessed the shooting.
The group then fled the scene, with Tua instructing them to drive to a friend’s home nearby. The friend refused to hide the vehicle for them, so the group removed items from the car, took off the plates, and disposed of it elsewhere. Police were never able to find the vehicle.
Tua later told police he did not know his associates were going to shoot anyone on the way home.
“You just wanted a ride and didn’t want to get involved in the offending,” Justice Cooke said.
Details of the motive for the shooting were not read out in court.
Justice Cooke said there were a few similar cases he could draw on to help decide on a sentence for Tua.
One involved a defendant driving a group to the victim’s home, where the co-offenders murdered the victim. The defendant in that case then helped destroy some of the evidence, and received eight months of home detention.
Another case involved the defendant arranging to pick up an associate, without realising they had committed a murder until the person was in the car with them. That case, which also involved concealing evidence, earned the defendant a 12-month home detention sentence.
The third comparable case was one where the defendant took his brother on a long car journey to avoid arrest after his brother stabbed a man who later died. That case drew a sentence of 7.5 months in prison.
In Tua’s case, his lawyer, Letizea Ord, argued his offending was at the lower end of the scale because he became involved “accidentally”, and his “shock and panic” at what he had witnessed influenced his decision to help conceal evidence.
Justice Cooke said Tua’s assistance was “spur of the moment”.
He said Tua’s mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was closely involved in her treatment, including accompanying her to appointments. His partner was also in early labour and left hospital this morning to attend his sentencing. Tua intended to support his partner with their baby.
Due to these personal circumstances, Justice Cooke allowed a 10 per cent discount on the sentence. He also granted a 20 per cent discount for Tua’s guilty plea.
A pre-sentence report recommended a sentence of community detention so Tua could continue supporting his mother and partner, but could still leave the house if tensions rose between himself and his partner while they cared for their newborn.
Justice Cooke sentenced Tua to three months of community detention with a curfew of 8pm to 6am daily, and six months of intensive supervision. The sentence will start later this week so Tua can support his partner in hospital.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.