South Auckland drive-by shootings: Killer Beez member Paul Cassidy sentenced to prison

A Killer Beez gang member who participated in daylight gang warfare that terrorised South Auckland suburb Ōtara has been ordered today to serve four years and three months in prison.

Justice Pheroze Jagose directed that Paul Cassidy, 45, serve the sentence stacked on top of an eight years and eight months sentence he is already serving for serious drugs and firearms offending instead of allowing the sentences to run concurrently.

“People living at two of the targeted addresses have filed statements discussing the extreme terror they felt,” Jagose said. “Your offending had a continuing impact on their feelings of safety ... forcing some to relocate.”

Authorities have previously said the November 2020 shootings were meant to target members of rival gang the Tribesmen, but the damaged homes included neighbours who were inside at the time and had nothing to do with the gang warfare. No one was injured.

Cassidy pleaded guilty in August to three counts of intentionally damaging property by shooting at homes on three different roads, as well as one count of aggravated burglary of a home in the area and one count of participating in an organised criminal group.

Today’s sentencing follows that of co-defendant Michael Crawford, who was sentenced earlier this year to seven years and four months’ prison for the same charges. Prosecutors identified him as the person who orchestrated the shootings after members of the other gang stole his motorbike and his patch.

Police said more than two dozen people were believed to have been involved in the shootings, arriving from as far away as Picton after organising a meet-up via the gang’s Facebook Messenger group.

Cassidy, a father of five whose family drove up from Rotorua to support him during today’s hearing in the High Court at Auckland, was identified as one of the drivers during the shootings involving high-powered semi-automatic firearms.

While determining the sentence, Justice Jagose noted Cassidy’s criminal history dating back to his teens and a previous prison stint for a 2008 aggravated robbery. A report prepared for the hearing suggested the risk of Cassidy harming others remains high.

The judge allowed a discount for his guilty plea and for his disadvantaged background but he declined to apply a discount for remorse.

“You only gave lip service,” Jagose said.

Cassidy’s supporters waved goodbye and one flashed a sign as he was led out of the courtroom to begin serving his sentence.