Rotorua Mongrel Mob rapper Tihema Nuttall, aka Temm Dogg, jailed for road rage shooting

A Mongrel Mob rapper who shot a man in the face in a road rage incident after picking up his children from a Rotorua primary school has been jailed for more than nine years.

Tihema Nuttall, also known as rapper Temm Dogg, has been sentenced in the Rotorua District Court after a jury found him guilty last year of wounding William Merito with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on Te Ngae Rd on the afternoon of August 5, 2021.

Nuttall, who had a loaded firearm in his car, picked up his children from Lynmore Primary School before heading towards the central city on Te Ngae Rd.

Tihema Nuttal at one of his court appearances in 2023 in the lead up to his Rotorua District Court trial. Photo / Andrew Warner

The rapper, who has a string of albums and millions of online streams, stopped at roadworks on Te Ngae Rd at the Tarawera Rd intersection and got out of his car to speak to someone he knew in the car behind him.

When the light turned green, Merito - a stranger to Nuttall - passed Nuttall and words were exchanged.

Nuttall then got in his car and followed Merito, driving alongside him and shooting him in the face with the shot gun. Merito was forced to pull his vehicle to the side of the road. He suffered serious injuries to his face, head and eyes. He survived but suffers ongoing sight problems.

Nuttall took the case to trial claiming it wasn’t him - and there were a series of delays before the trial was heard. It took a jury two hours to find him guilty.

Nuttall’s lawyer, Andy Hill, said it was “refreshing” that Nuttall now admitted he was the shooter.

A photograph from Temm Dogg, also known as Tihema Nuttall's, Facebook page. Photo / Facebook

Crown prosecutor Anna McConachy asked for a starting point of 11 years’ imprisonment, given several factors, including the public and serious nature of the offending, the fact he had a loaded firearm in his car with his children and he used it in a situation that was an action out of proportion as a reaction.

She also asked for a minimum period of imprisonment of 50% highlighting Nuttall had 29 previous prison sentences despite being aged just 34.

McConachy acknowledged Nuttall had spent 35 months on electronically monitored bail in the lead-up to his trial, but noted he had approved absences adding up to 23 hours a week.

She said this allowed him to go for walks, pick his children up from school, take his children to the gym, complete his music degree and produce a number of music videos.

She suggested he should only be given 12 months off his prison sentence, not 18 months as suggested by Hill, as most people on electronically monitored bail were effectively under “house arrest” and he’d been allowed 23 hours of court-approved absences each week.

Tihema Nuttal photographed in court in September 2023. Photo / Andrew Warner

Hill asked for a starting point of nine years’ imprisonment.

He said Nuttall’s cultural report showed he was a product of his environment. He was born in prison and had many negative influences with his father being the president of a Mongrel Mob chapter. Hill asked for a 20% prison discount for those factors.

Hill said Nuttall, although still a member of the gang, had started to turn his life around and was providing for his family through his music royalties.

He said it would be easy to “simply write him off as another Mongrel Mob gangster shooting people” without delving deeper.

“This is a man who beat a pretty bad meth addiction, who is - outside his Mongrel Mob connection - a devoted husband and father and there are a number of positives in his life.”

Judge Anna Skellern accepted McConachy’s starting point of 11 years and uplifted it by nine months for his previous prison sentences - which included seven for violence offences and five for firearms offences.

She said while Nuttall hadn’t been convicted of a violent offence for the seven years prior to the shooting, it was worrying he was driving around with a loaded firearm in his car with his children and was prepared to react in that way towards a stranger over a “minor” traffic disagreement.

She allowed 12 months’ discount for his nearly three years on electronically monitored bail, noting there were two breaches of that bail but not serious enough to warrant him being put back in prison.

While she accepted Nuttall was heavily entrenched in gang life and a victim of intergenerational dysfunction, she didn’t accept Hill’s request for a 20% discount on his sentence and instead gave 10% for the factors mentioned in his cultural report.

She didn’t give a minimum period of imprisonment.

“Given the end sentence is just over nine years, I consider that that is sufficient for the purposes and principles of the sentencing act without imposing a minimum period of imprisonment. Athough Mr Nuttall you have an extensive history, I take note you have not violently offended for a period of seven years.”

The sentence meant he would not be eligible for parole for just over three years and she agreed with Hill the Parole Board should decide at that time if he posed undue risk to the community.

On his Facebook page, Temm Dogg says he has released seven albums in two years as well as two EPs.

In October last year, he released a single called Boom Shaka Laka which included the lyrics: “I’ll definitely be keeping the weaponry right next to me, I’m definitely using it like boom shaka laka.” The music video includes gang members wielding firearms.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.