Shayne Grant Kavanaugh appeared for sentencing in the Christchurch District Court. Photo / Al Williams
A man thought he was going to be killed when four gang associates burst into his house demanding money, assaulting him and holding a gun to his head.
The group went on to target another address just an hour later, where a woman was held for two hours as they demanded money.
Shayne Grant Kavanaugh was one of the attackers and has now been jailed for his role in the home invasions and a series of prison assaults that followed.
While the burglary victims were not in the Christchurch District Court today to see him jailed, Crown prosecutor Sunny Teki-Clark said their lives have been significantly impacted by the incidents on December 16, 2021.
The court heard Kavanaugh and his co-offenders were associated with the Mongrel Mob.
According to the summary of facts, the first victim opened the kitchen window at his rural Canterbury home when he heard a knock.
A masked man then climbed through the window.
The man asked him, “Where’s the dosh?” before unlocking the front door.
Kavanaugh and two associates then burst into the house through the unlocked door.
One of them was carrying a cut-down firearm.
The firearm’s breech was open, and the victim saw that the chamber was loaded with ammunition.
The court heard that the victim had been growing cannabis in three containers at the rear of his property, and one of the offenders asked to see it.
The victim opened the locks on the containers and, while standing to the side, he was struck by one of the men.
One of them repeatedly asked him, “Where is the dosh?”
The group pushed him back into his house and surrounded him in the laundry, continuing to question him about the money.
The victim was hit on the side of his face again by one of them.
A gun was put to the man’s temple and, at that point, he thought he was going to be killed.
He was hit in the face again and fell to the ground.
One of the men picked him up off the floor and sat him on a chair in the lounge. While he was sitting, the group continued searching his home.
He escaped the house and ran to the road, where he was soon caught by one of the men.
The victim was hit again and fell on to the road and then was dragged to the verge before the group fled in a car.
Several items were taken from his house, including his driver’s licence and phones.
An hour later, the group was at it again when they arrived at another address in nearby Christchurch.
Kavanaugh and the others started kicking and shaking the front and rear doors of the house.
An occupant at the address, known to Kavanaugh, thought they were trying to force the doors open, so she unlocked one.
But she was soon told to sit on a chair in the lounge as the group searched the house.
One of them was carrying a small sawn-off shotgun.
The man holding the gun hit her in the face with the back of his hand.
He sat with her in the lounge, resting the shotgun on his knee. He later took her driver’s licence, saying it was to be held for security.
They searched the house for two hours as Kavanaugh continually demanded that she disclose the location of her money.
They grabbed several electronic appliances and money, and then left.
Police later located items from both robberies when they searched a Christchurch address.
At Kavanaugh’s sentencing, it was heard he had also been involved in three prison assaults while in the Otago Correctional Facility.
The most serious, in September 2023, resulted in the victim being left unconscious after Kavanaugh and five others took part in a two-minute attack which involved punches, kicks and stomps to the head.
Judge Paul Kellar jailed Kavanaugh, 34, for 12 years.
One of the co-offenders in the home invasions was charged alongside Kavanaugh, but the other two have not been identified.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the past 16 years. Most recently, he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.