By PAUL YANDALL
A Te Reo Maori teacher and a sickness beneficiary have been imprisoned for a home invasion and the kidnapping of an Asian woman in Hamilton last year.
Mita McLean, aged 37, a teacher, of Auckland, was sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday to 10 years' imprisonment
for kidnapping, aggravated robbery, and stealing a car.
Ihaia John Hoto, aged 44, a sickness beneficiary, of Auckland, was sentenced to nine years and six months for the same crimes.
The pair pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing.
McLean had 15 months added to his sentence for unrelated convictions of obtaining a document with intent to defraud and possession of cannabis for supply.
The sentences follow a home invasion on June 2 last year, carried out by McLean, Hoto, and a third man still at large, on a Hamilton property on River Rd occupied by newly arrived Taiwanese immigrants.
The men, wearing balaclavas and armed with garden tools, entered the home about 10 pm and bound and gagged four of its occupants, leaving only a 79-year-old woman unrestrained.
They then ransacked the house of jewellery and other items before leaving, about 20 minutes after they arrived, with a 21-year-old woman and a car from the address.
The woman was found near Meremere six hours later after she had been left tied up in an unused water tanker.
Justice Peter Penlington said that McLean and Hoto had committed "grave and horrible crimes" and had crossed one of society's most important boundaries: "The sanctity of a person's home must remain sacrosanct."
He said the degree of planning, the use of weapons, and both men's previous records - which were extensive and, in McLean's case, involved a similar incident in 1988 - were aggravating factors in their sentencing.
He dismissed unproven claims made by the pair that they had been forced to do the job by Asian gangs, but said their guilty pleas were a mitigating factor.
But McLean's parents, Burt and Val McLean, said they were shocked at the sentence, which they planned to appeal against, and that their son had "taken the rap" for the third man involved in the case.
"We know who this [third] man is, the police know who he is. He's the one who put this bloody thing together but Mita's going to do time for it."
The Herald understands that police have identified a third suspect, a gang member in Auckland, but do not have enough evidence to arrest him.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Ardern, who helped to lead the police investigation, said the victims were so traumatised by the attack that they returned to Taiwan shortly afterwards.
"In my 27 years in this job I have never seen a family affected so badly. They will be pleased with the sentences."
McLean and Hoto become eligible for parole in nine years and seven years, respectively.
By PAUL YANDALL
A Te Reo Maori teacher and a sickness beneficiary have been imprisoned for a home invasion and the kidnapping of an Asian woman in Hamilton last year.
Mita McLean, aged 37, a teacher, of Auckland, was sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday to 10 years' imprisonment
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