A teen ram-raider is suffering early onset arthritis and faces a hip replacement in his 20s, with another likely when he’s older, after falling badly while fleeing police from a Waikato supermarket.
Eighteen months on from Fred’s Four Square ram-raid in Huntly and Khances Mahara-Sunnex remains on crutches. The then 18-year-old was in a stolen Toyota Aqua that was twice driven into the main roller doors of the store before cash, alcohol, and groceries were taken.
He and his four co-offenders then fled in the car but it was spiked by police on Rotowaro Rd where they all ran off across swampy farmland, jumping fences along the way. Three of the five were arrested; two escaped.
It was the landing after jumping one of the fences that resulted in Mahara-Sunnex suffering “significant injuries” to his pelvis and hips.
Fred’s former owner Jas Sandhu told NZME that at the time of this offending, his business was being subjected to a spate of ram-raids, around three in just a couple of months.
He’d since sold the business and was now selling real estate and sitting on the Huntly Community Board.
“I’m glad I’m out of there,” he said, adding it had been frightening for him and his staff at times.
Sandhu, who owned the business for 18 years, didn’t realise Mahara-Sunnex had been injured while fleeing.
“I feel sorry for the guy and what he’s going through but I would really appreciate it if he named these people that he was with.”
He hoped laws would be toughened so it would be more of a deterrent for those targeting businesses.
Mahara-Sunnex’s counsel, Kirstie Barr, told Judge Brett Crowley in the Hamilton District Court today that he has ongoing health problems and had recently had an operation to have pins in his pelvis and hips removed.
“As a result of those injuries arthritis has begun, and it’s quite a significant problem for him.
“He’s likely to have a hip replacement in his 20s and potentially another one in his 60s, so he has certainly suffered his own consequences as a result of his foolish behaviour.”
As well as the Four Square ram-raid on March 6, last year, he was also involved in the burglary of a Mobil service station in Huntly about 10 days prior.
Using a hammer Mahara-Sunnex, and another unidentified co-offender, smashed their way into the service station and began looting it as the sole employee working that night retreated into a rear room and activated a fog cannon.
The now 19-year-old and his two co-offenders only managed to nab confectionery before fleeing in the stolen vehicle, another Toyota Aqua.
Barr said she had spoken with her client about that incident, and he accepted the employee must have been “quite traumatised” after that for which he was sorry.
Given his significant injuries, she urged Judge Crowley to step back from a home detention sentence as his mother had indicated he faces many ongoing medical appointments and community detention would give him the flexibility to get there.
As for the $2500 reparation sought for the Four Square burglary, Barr said he didn’t have any money and was only on a benefit with the ability to pay $10 a week.
Judge Crowley said he knew someone who had a hip replacement in their 30s, only to need another one 15 years later.
“If that’s the case for you, you’re going to have that operation several times. It’s my understanding it’s not a lot of fun, that operation, so that’s going to be something in your life for the rest of it.”
As for the arthritis, Judge Crowley said that was a “significant reminder of this offending and that is best something you not engage in ever again”.
On that note, he agreed to hand down community detention - for six months - but ordered he pay some of the reparation due to the seriousness of his offending.
“I do think you should reflect on the fact that this offending causes real harm in our community. You may have seen on the news, or in the newspapers, businesses that have gone out of business because this has been done to them so often they simply can’t afford to run a business anymore.”
As well as community detention, on the two charges of burglary, two charges of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle, and failure to answer police bail, Judge Crowley also ordered he pay $500 in reparation at $10 per week, which would take about a year to pay off.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and has been a journalist for 19.