Waikato: Meter reader left critically injured after botched drug money plan

Adam Battensby's co-offenders Jason Wharekura and Trident Brewer were both jailed when they appeared for sentencing in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday. Photo / 123rf

A man involved in the botched theft of a meter reader’s vehicle, which left the driver critically injured, claims he doesn’t know anything about the crime, despite pleading guilty.

Adam Battensby, Jason Wharekura, 51, and Trident Teata Brewer, 37, were sitting in their car in Oliver St, Kihikihi, just out of Te Awamutu, when they spotted the Wel Instruments and Electrical Ltd vehicle and decided to steal it on January 5 last year.

Battensby got out of his Nissan, jumped into the Wel car and began driving off, but the victim held on to the driver’s door. He was unable to hold on though and eventually fell to the ground, suffering critical injuries.

Wharekura and Brewer then drove up to the victim as he lay on the ground before taking off and meeting up with Battensby at a pre-arranged meeting place.

Items from the stolen car were taken before it was set on fire about 16km away near the turnoff to State Highway 39 south of Pirongia.

Battensby was jailed for 28 months earlier this year, but yesterday Wharekura – who still denies the offending despite pleading guilty – and Brewer were up before Judge Stephen Clark in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing.

The pair earlier admitted a charge of arson, while Brewer faced additional charges of receiving property – items from the victim’s car that were found at his house, and breaching his home detention sentence.

An additional charge of motor vehicle conversion was dismissed.

Wharekura and Brewer weren’t charged over injuries suffered by the victim as they weren’t in the car.

Crown prosecutor Kasey Dillon submitted Wharekura should get up to 10% for his guilty plea, which, together with Brewer’s, came on the morning of a reserved judge-alone trial.

He didn’t object to a term of home detention.

As for Brewer, he rejected he should get credit for the deaths of people close to him that happened seven years prior, labelling it a “long bow to draw” that they were causative of this offending.

He did concede his drug addiction was a key factor.

Brewer’s counsel Gerard Walsh said it was those key factors, deaths, that led to the addiction so it should get some discount.

He also now lived in the King Country with his partner who continued to be supportive and suggested he could serve a home detention sentence there.

However, Judge Clark noted Brewer had breached his last home detention sentence, and post-detention conditions, multiple times but accepted the whānau deaths had an impact on him.

He told a pre-sentence report writer that the plan that day was to steal property so they could buy drugs.

The judge noted his poor compliance and despite coming to an end jail term of 20 months, he wouldn’t give him leave to apply for home detention as he wasn’t confident he would not breach it.

As for Wharekura, the judge noted he still denied involvement, “didn’t know or see anything or know his co-offenders”, but had pleaded to the charges.

Judge Clark said although a pre-sentence report recommended jail, he would have considered home detention if he had a suitable property available.

Wharekura was jailed for 22 months but granted leave to apply for home detention.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.