Two years of 'terror' for lawyer and father

Peter Cleven. Photo / Supplied

A criminal lawyer feared for her safety after a former gang member left a threatening note telling her father to pay a $50,000 debt after his business went into liquidation.

Peter William Cleven, 46, has pleaded guilty in the High Court at Auckland to the charge of criminal harassment of the businessman and his daughter.

The Weekend Herald has agreed not to name the family, who say they have lived in "indescribable terror" for the past two years.

Cleven, nicknamed "Pedro", is a former patched member of the Head Hunters gang acquitted on drug charges in 2002 after two controversial trials.

In the first, the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict after allegations he "nobbled" a juror. He was acquitted after a second trial during which the jury was protected in a secret hideaway for 17 nights.

He later sold his palatial home in West Auckland but still lives in the area as a self-employed furniture- maker.

But in May 2007, Cleven was hired by debt collector Andrew Sisson - a Hells Angels leader with methamphetamine convictions - to intimidate the businessman and extract a large sum of money.

The company he owned went into voluntary liquidation in 2006 and a creditor was owed $50,000 - a debt the businessman was not personally liable for.

Unhappy that he could not claim the money owed, the creditor hired Sisson, who in turn hired his longtime friend Cleven.

Cleven went to the family home in Epsom and showed the man photographs of a goat and dog - dead and mutilated.

He allegedly told the businessman: "This is a nasty thing to happen and we wouldn't want this to happen to your daughter or anyone else."

Cleven disputes saying those words.

Six days later, Cleven went to the home of the businessman's daughter and put a handwritten note in the letterbox.

She returned home late at night to find the letter, which read: "Tell your dad not to be an old goat. It's not such a dog's life. It's not about bondage. It's about discipline for business and family integrity etc". The note was signed off "Mr $480,000".

When interviewed by police, Cleven admitted visiting both addresses but denied making any threats.

The father gave evidence at the first trial of Cleven and Sisson which was aborted late last year. The charges against Sisson were later dropped because of a lack of evidence.

But the father was frustrated with the justice system, because he could not refer to the notorious criminal history of Cleven in the first trial.

"That just about killed me, I was furious that the jury could not be told he was a gang member.

"We were terrified. We're very, very afraid. He's a loose cannon."