Rotorua kidnapper sentenced in Rotorua District Court to prison

Te Rangipuawhe Newton Maika, 53, was sentenced in the Rotorua District Court to two years and two months in jail.

Kidnapping a man, taking him to cemeteries and Whakarewarewa hot pools while making multiple threats to kill him has led to a two-year two-month jail term.

Te Rangipuawhe Newton Maika, 53, was sentenced in the Rotorua District Court this afternoonby Judge Maree Mackenzie who said his victim had been terrorised and traumatised.

Maika had earlier pleaded guilty to kidnapping the man at Rotorua over a three-hour period starting in the early hours of March 16.

One threat had been made as Maika forced the man to pray out loud by a Whakarewarewa pool telling him "if your prayer ain't good enough I'm going to kill you and you won't even know what happened, everything will just go blank".

He had told his victim how quickly a person would boil if they fell into the water and when he saw a person in a pool, told him "I've just kidnapped this fulla".

Outlining what she described as a "highly unusual, factual scenario", Judge MacKenzie noted the victim had only briefly met Maika so barely knew him when he knocked on his door demanding to be taken to a service station.

On the way Maika accused him of being a "kiddie fiddler" telling him if he found out he was he'd kill him.

From the petrol station Maika demanded his victim drive to Whakarewarewa Village, insisting they visit its graveyard where he pointed out names of whānau members.

"[The victim] was fearful and terrified," Judge Mackenzie told Maika.

When he had made the man pray, his prayers had been centred on his love for his wife and family. Later the man described the moment as the most scared he'd been in his life.

The two sat together in a hot pool until Maika's victim told him he was concerned for his family.

"Your demeanour changed, you got out of the pool said 'let's go' and drove back towards his home with a stop at another graveyard where you pointed out more family members' graves," Judge Mackenzie said.

At the victim's home Maika demanded a cup of coffee and a promise the man would mow his neighbour's lawn.

The judge told Maika his victim could not sleep with the events continuing to play on a loop in his mind.

Drugs and alcohol played a major part in Maika's long list of previous offending, some of which was "simply bizarre".

As well as the jail term Judge Mackenzie imposed a five-year non-contact order which precludes Maika going within a 100m radius of his victim's home after he's released.