Men jailed for machete robbery

Two unemployed Mount Maunganui men who robbed a Gull service station in May, one armed with a machete, have been jailed for three years.

Mitchell Winiata, 19, and Aaron Taplin, 22, who earlier pleaded guilty to a joint charge of aggravated robbery, were sentenced in Tauranga District Court on Tuesday.

Winiata was also sentenced on charges of burglary, under 20 excess breath alcohol offence, driving while forbidden and failing to give correct information to police, which all pre-dated the robbery.

The burglary involved him breaking into his former work place Milanos Restaurant, Ocean Beach Rd Mount Maunganui, on May 11, and stealing $100 worth of alcohol and $20 from a jar on the front counter. Reparation for the items stolen and the damage totalled $1570.

Taplin was also sentenced on a breach of community work.

In relation to the robbery, the court was told that at 2.12am on May 14 Winiata, armed with the machete, entered Woolworths Micro @ Gull on Hewletts Rd and demanded the lone female shop assistant hand over items and he stole $968.40 worth of cigarettes and cash.

Taplin acted as the lookout at the scene and their co-offender, nurse aide Thomas Foord, 17, of Pyes Pa, drove the getaway car.

When arrested, Winiata took police to where he had buried the machete in sand hills in Papamoa.

Foord had his sentencing adjourned until November pending a further report, after it was accepted that his involvement in the robbery was not as great.

Crown prosecutor Hayley Booth told Judge Michael Crosbie that this offending deserved a sentence starting at 4 to five years' imprisonment after taking into account all the aggravated features which included the degree of premeditation and planning involved and the vulnerability of the victim who was working alone that night.

Ms Booth said it wasn't an opportunistic robbery as the trio had planned it earlier that evening and Winiata had taken the 50cm bladed machete from another address.

But Glenn Dixon, lawyer for Winiata, and Craig Horsley, lawyer for Taplin both argued the starting point was too high, as there was no more degree of planning involved than similar cases which had attracted about four years as a starting point.

Mr Dixon said Winiata deserved maximum credit for his full and frank admission to police and showing them where he had buried the machete, his early guilty pleas, and significant remorse expressed to the victim, plus a discount for relative youth.

Mr Horsley said Taplin had also shown significant remorse in his letter to the victim and has been assessed as low risk of reoffending and and deserved credit for his guilty pleas.

Judge Crosbie said he agreed with the Crown's summation that the robbery was both brazen and disturbing against a vulnerable victim who had been affected by what occurred.

The judge told Winiata and Taplin that the Court of Appeal had made it clear that attacks on the public of this type, even by offenders like them who he described as "opportunistic thugs", needed deterrent sentences to send a strong and clear message that this sort of conduct would not be tolerated.

Judge Crosbie said even though Taplin did not go inside the station, he was not going to make any distinction in his sentence for the aggravated robbery.

Winiata got a six-month concurrent sentence for the burglary and Taplin a one-month concurrent sentence for the community work breach. Both men were ordered to pay their shares of reparation at $20 a week on their release from prison.

- BOP TIMES