Operation Silk: Steady job keeps former patched Mongol gang member out of jail

Kane Ronaki, 25, pictured in the dock of the High Court at Hamilton, was not given a jail or a home detention sentence to enable him to keep his job. Photo / Belinda Feek

It was the lifestyle, cars, and money that attracted Kane Ronaki to the Mongols gang.

But, like other relatives who have been sentenced in the High Court at Hamilton this week as part of Operation Silk, it was his uncle Hone Ronaki, the gang’s vice president, who first put the idea of that gang lifestyle in his head.

Ronaki, 25, has since left the gang and is now focusing on his job, getting his driver’s licence and finding himself and his partner a home of their own.

Today he avoided a jail term, as well as a home detention sentence, so that he could keep working.

Ronaki was found guilty at last year’s mammoth 16-week trial of two firearms charges - including one loaded shotgun - and one charge of possessing explosives - the five shotgun shells in the shotgun.

That was in relation to a shooting at a Malcolm Ave property on May 6, 2020.

While no one has been charged for firing the shots, police saw two vehicles leaving the property that day.

A black Mercedes, carrying president Jim Thacker and Leon “the Wolf” Huritu, fled but a white Mazda ute with Ronaki and cousins Chavai and Falcon-Reign Smith inside was stopped by police.

A search of the car saw two firearms recovered, including a sawn-off shotgun on the floor behind the driver’s seat.

Ronaki was the backseat passenger and closest to the weapon, the court heard. A loaded shotgun was in a tray on the rear of the ute.

Ronaki told a pre-sentence writer that on that day he and his co-offenders were “just driving around”.

But Justice Harland wasn’t buying that.

“That is not credible ... It suggests to me that you are still minimising the seriousness of your offending and your involvement in the Mongols.

“You said that you would not have been a part of it if you knew what was going on.

“It is clear that your partner did not want you to be part of the gang.”

Ronaki’s counsel, Rebecca Webby, said he wasn’t a key player in the gang, he was a family member and associate of others.

“He wasn’t the driving force behind how or why the guns ended up in the ute.”

She said he was now trying to turn his life around and sending him to jail would see him lose his job at the Tauranga wharf.

Justice Harland accepted that a recommended sentence of community detention would help him rehabilitate and stay out of jail.

Ronaki was sentenced to five months’ community detention and nine months’ supervision.

“I wish you well for the future,” Justice Harland told him, “I certainly hope that you are not before the courts again”.

* The rest of the Mongols gang members, including president Jim “JD” Thacker, will be sentenced in August.

Belinda Feek has been a reporter for 19 years, and at the Herald for eight years before joining the Open Justice team in 2021.