Gang members jailed for attack on visitors at Rotorua thermal pools

Nikora O'Neill and Rangiteaorere Biddle appear in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing. Photo / Kelly Makiha

Drunk, chanting gang slogans and intent on a fight, two men launched a terrifying attack on six Chinese visitors on a weekend mountain biking trip to Rotorua.

The Rotorua men, Rangiteorere Biddle and Nikora O'Neill, have been jailed for two years over the unprovoked attack at the thermal pools, known as Hot and Cold Pools, south of Rotorua on December 19, 2020.

O'Neill has been in custody for more than a year which means he will be eligible for release almost immediately.

Both men pleaded guilty to one charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, three charges of injuring with intent to injure, one charge of assault with intent to injure and two charges of theft.

Rangiteaorere Biddle appears in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The offenders became enraged when the six men, who were visiting from Auckland, started speaking in their Chinese language.

Judge Bill Lawson stepped back on accepting a submission by Crown prosecutor Lee Evans that it was a hate crime.

The judge said the language was based on race and homosexual slurs and the clear impression he got was the offenders were using any means to start an altercation.

The six visitors went to the Waiotapu thermal pools about 11.30pm and came across Biddle and O'Neill, who were chanting Tribesmen gang slogans.

The visitors began talking to each other in their language. The gang members started swearing at them and became aggressive and abusive.

Nikora O'Neill appears in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing. Photo / Kelly Makiha

The summary said the area was dark and the visitors became fearful for their safety.

They tried to apologise to defuse the situation by telling Biddle and O'Neill they would leave, but the gang members blocked the entrance to the pools.

Biddle began punching one of the victims in the head which caused him to fall in the water. When he tried to get up, Biddle kept punching him in the head.

The other victims started fleeing the pool but O'Neill joined the attack.

A second victim was punched about 10 times to the face, head and body. A third victim was hit in the face, which caused his glasses to fall off. The second and third victims ran to their vehicle and got inside.

But Biddle followed and yelled "get out or I'll ****ing bash yous". Biddle pulled one of the doors open and started punching the second victim again.

The second victim managed to get free and ran towards the main highway to get help.

Biddle went to the third victim, who was still in the van, and pulled the door open and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

The gang members began kicking him on the ground.

A fourth victim was then punched and kicked several times. A fifth victim was chased and kicked. The sixth escaped unscathed, ran up some stairs and used his cell phone to call police.

The gang members launched an unprovoked assault on six Chinese tourists at the Hot and Cold thermal pools at Waiotapu. Photo / NZME

Biddle and O'Neill stole a wallet, bank cards, a $4000 mountain bike and other items worth $8000 in total.

Judge Lawson said one of the victims had ongoing eye issues that impacted his career and the other men were left injured or traumatised, resulting in them needing time off work.

Judge Lawson said his sentence took into account the men were prepared to risk attacks to the head in the water — a drowning risk.

"This frankly is a horrendous act where you launched an unprovoked attack on a group of men who were minding their own business enjoying a swim.

"It was a prolonged attack by a group intent on causing harm. You were prepared to then go and help yourself to their property. These people were visitors to Rotorua and expected to be treated better."

He took time off the sentence for the offenders' ages at the time of the attack - Biddle was 19 and O'Neill 20 - as he recognised young people didn't have the cognitive ability to think of the consequences of their behaviour in the adult world.

Biddle's mother wrote a letter to Judge Lawson that said her son wasn't a racist and he was seriously questioning his actions on that day. She claimed it was a misunderstanding that went horribly wrong.

She said he was having a particularly traumatic day having to bury his friend's baby and being told his mother had cancer.

She asked the judge not to send him to prison because it would further entrench him in gang life.

The offenders were Tribesmen gang members. Photo / NZME

His lawyer, Tim Braithwaite, said Biddle had significant cultural and personal background issues that led to his offending and that Biddle expressed "utter remorse" for what he had done to the victims.

Braithwaite said it was a shame restorative justice didn't go ahead as it would have provided the victims with some knowledge of Biddle's difficult background that led to the offending.

O'Neill's lawyer, Douglas Hall, likewise outlined his client's difficult background saying he had to deal with his mother's tragic death when he was 13 and another traumatic event he wouldn't disclose in open court at the age of 16.

Such events led O'Neill to being exposed to a gang lifestyle at an early age, Hall said.