Man sentenced for Mt Roskill home invasion, victim shot in right eye

Police investigating the scene at the February 29, 2020 triple shooting in Mt Roskill. Photo / Hayden Woodward

A man has been sentenced for his part in a Mt Roskill triple shooting where a man was shot through the eye, leaving him blind and with a bullet lodged in his brain.

Heston Salt, 32, was jailed for eight years and four months for his part in what Justice Geoffrey Venning called a “targeted home invasion” involving multiple intruders who inflicted serious injuries on three victims.

Justice Venning said the 32-year-old was not one of the shooters so his culpability was somewhat less.

But “you knew what was going to happen”, he told Salt at the Auckland High Court this morning.

The father-of-three pleaded guilty to three counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in April, a mere three weeks before his High Court trial.

Court documents show the events unfurled in the early morning of February 29, 2020, after Salt received a text message that said, “Who is available URGENT!!!”

Salt caught an Uber from a Hells Angels gang pad and met three associates in Mt Roskill, where they undertook reconnaissance of a property in his Mitsubishi Outlander.

Armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and a .22 long rifle calibre firearm, he and two associates entered the property through a laundry door.

The Eliu family, who had been living at the property for nearly 30 years, were all home except for one woman and her two children.

One intruder, not Salt, entered a bedroom and shot the first victim, Talakai Finau, in the right eye with the .22 firearm.

The bullet lodged in Finau’s brain, the largest fragments lying in the left middle ear cavity leaving him with a dead left ear, fractures and lacerations.

The second victim, Letuituia Eliu, heard the first shot and yelled at the armed men in the hallway.

The man carrying the .22 then shot Eliu through his right collarbone.

At this point, the third victim, Hailame Junior Vea, came into the laundry area and was shot in his upper left arm by the intruder carrying the shotgun.

Salt and his associates then ran out of the property and fled in their vehicle. The whole incident only took a few minutes, the court heard.

All the victims survived, but Finau was left permanently blind.

Salt was on parole for a kidnapping and blackmail conviction at the time.

At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Crown prosecutor Sam McMullan argued that even though Salt was unarmed and did not shoot the victims, he was just as culpable because he was involved in the planning of the attack.

Defence lawyer Emma Priest said Salt’s addiction to drugs and alcohol was a key factor in his offending.

He had a deprived childhood where his father was largely absent, she said, and his pre-sentence report showed he needed rehabilitation.

Justice Venning did not impose a minimum non-parole period so the man could seek rehabilitation and treatment.