Man who robbed elderly women in Havelock North was craving meth and wearing a GPS tracker

The robbery took place on Tainui Drive in Havelock North. Photo / NZME

A man who punched and robbed two elderly women on a suburban street was craving methamphetamine and wearing a GPS tracking anklet at the time.

Jimi Nuki Haerewa, 33, appeared for sentencing on aggravated robbery charges in the Napier District Court on Tuesday.

He was sent to jail for two years and 11 months.

Judge Russell Collins said the prime motivation for the brazen attack last March was his craving for methamphetamine, an “extraordinarily pernicious and addictive drug”.

“You couldn’t have been thinking clearly at all, as you had your GPS tracker on,” the judge said.

The court was told that Haerewa was on electronically monitored bail for another offence at the time.

He followed the women by car from nearby Hastings and attacked them on Tainui Drive, Havelock North, about 3.45pm on a Monday afternoon.

The women, aged 85 and 86, were robbed of cash, understood to be gambling winnings.

A family member read victim impact statements which said his mother-in-law had been left feeling uneasy and unsafe, exposed and tearful.

When she was later approached by young men asking for money in Hastings, she thought she was going to get attacked again. She was shaking so badly, she could not get the keys into her car.

The woman’s daughter said that her mother was no longer the trusting person that she was. She had been left “constantly nervous” and no longer felt safe in her own home. She has nightmares and panic attacks.

“Our mother will never be the same again,” the daughter’s statement said.

Judge Collins said Haerewa had convictions for violent offending in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2021.

He had grown up immersed in a Mongrel Mob culture, “where violence and drug taking is a lot more accepted than in other parts of the community”.

A woman who was also allegedly involved in the robbery is being dealt with separately by the courts.