Turipapa Tukere, 42, died in December 2024, during a brawl in Ngāruawāhia. Photo / Supplied
A man on remand for robbery and violent offending punched a prison guard twice in the face after receiving news that his mother had been killed.
Pomare Wilson was then granted compassionate bail to attend her tangi on December 30 – but instead of returning to prison, he went on the run.
His mother Turipapa Tukere, 42, was allegedly murdered during a daylight brawl in Ngāruawāhia in December 2024.
Now Wilson, 27, has recently appeared in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, assault with intent to injure and escaping custody.
His lawyer, Shelley Gilbert, argued her client was going through a traumatic time when he punched the prison officer before going on the run for a month after being granted compassionate bail.
While Judge Philip Crayton was sympathetic to Wilson’s situation, he didn’t issue as many discounts as the defence had hoped for.
The fight in which Tukere lost her life erupted on Waipa Esplanade, near the intersection of Newton St, about 1.30pm on December 27.
She died of her injuries before she could be airlifted to Waikato Hospital.
Chalise Teira Barton-Barbarich, 34, has pleaded not guilty to Tukere’s alleged murder and charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to an alleged second victim.
Such was the tension between gangs after her death, police issued a Gang Conflict Warrant under the Criminal Activity Intervention Bill, which allowed them to make arrests and seize weapons.
The following morning, Wilson was phoned in Spring Hill prison.
After the call, he was to be put in a holding cell while other Corrections staff released other prisoners for their morning exercise.
But Wilson became frustrated and told the prison officer that he wanted to be put in the compound.
He was told he couldn’t be, and as the victim turned away, Wilson punched him twice to the left side of his jaw, causing him to fall against the grill, then to the ground.
He was then granted 27 hours’ compassionate bail to attend his mother’s tangi on River Rd, Ngāruawāhia, on December 30.
Police contacted his cousin, whom he was required to always be in the presence of, the following day, but she said he wasn’t with her.
When they called a second time, he still wasn’t with her.
At 5.07pm, the prison called police saying he’d failed to return.
Wilson was eventually caught after a month on the run.
He had been in custody at Spring Hill prison since August last year for an aggravated assault on a Pak’n Save Hamilton staff member after trying to leave with $20 worth of stolen groceries in February and the aggravated robbery of a man at a shared Hamilton East car park in May.
Wilson’s counsel, Shelley Gilbert, said a clinical psychologist’s report gave the court a greater understanding of not only her client’s background, but also the trauma he was facing at the time.
“And that was, he was faced with the fact that his mother had just been killed.
“It’s appreciated it’s charged as a homicide, whether that comes out or not, but she was killed in tragic circumstances.
“That’s what was facing him at the time.
“Those were extraordinary circumstances for anyone, particularly a young man from his background.”
She said Wilson had a “fairly traumatic upbringing” and had suffered suspected neurological impairment due to the repetitive head injuries he sustained.
Tests were carried out, which revealed he had triggers that drove his tendency to become aggressive “very quickly” and was an “issue that needs to be addressed”, she said.
She submitted he was also now at a stage “where he is perhaps open to receiving therapeutic intervention”.
“I am hopeful that moving forward, there can be some slightly brighter future for Mr Wilson.”
Her client had also shown genuine remorse and taken responsibility for his offending.
Given his childhood trauma, cognitive issues, remorse, and rehabilitative prospects, she pushed for 20% in discounts and pushed for an end jail term of around three years.
But Crown prosecutor Lexie Glaser took issue with Wilson’s remorse.
She said pre-sentence reports showed Wilson shifting blame onto the victims.
He claimed he had to protect his partner from the supermarket staff member as he was “coming towards” her, and so he “had to defend her”.
“He had to defend his partner from the shopworker trying to obtain the items that she was trying to steal,” Glaser said.
As for the other assault, Wilson also shifted blame, stating he was drunk and that the victim was a “lying cheat”.
“He lacks any insight into his offending ... and lacks any accountability for his actions.”
She submitted Wilson’s rehabilitative prospects, “are at an all-time low”.
Judge Crayton accepted that Wilson was “significantly emotionally affected by the unlawful killing of your mother”.
“It does not excuse your offending, but it does provide some explanation as to your acts.
“Although you were significantly distraught, you used violence in a clear and determined way against that prison officer.”
A clinical psychologist said his most prominent personality difficulty was in the area of “disinhibition”.
“In other words, you do not feel restricted or inhibited in your violence or actions against other people.”
However, as neither he nor the psychologist was a neurological expert, to attribute his actions to a possible head injury would be to engage in speculation”.
The reality was, he said, that there were many people in the community who didn’t resort to violence or other type of offending.
Wilson was jailed for three years and seven months.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.