Mongrel Mob member pulled loaded shotgun from under sleeping children, fired it through Morrinsville shed

Tiaki James Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki, 29, fired his sawn-off shotgun through a shed wall of his Morrinsville property in February this year.

A drunk gang member pulled a loaded sawn-off shotgun from beneath a mattress on which three young children were sleeping and fired it through the wall of his shed.

Tiaki James Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki had been drinking with several associates in the shed of his Morrinsville property on the evening of February 14 this year.

Also in the shed were three children aged 2, 4, and 8, who were sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki, a Mongrel Mob member, grabbed the shotgun from under their mattress and fired a shot from inside the shed, leaving a large hole visible from the exterior.

Neighbours called police, and the Armed Offenders Squad soon arrived to arrest him.

The hole visible on the outside of the shed after Tiaki James Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki, 29, fired his sawn-off shotgun through the wall from inside.

During a search of his house, they found nine live rounds of shotgun ammunition, the shotgun, 33 empty shotgun shells, cannabis bongs, 54 grams of cannabis, a packet of self-sealing bags for cannabis distribution, two rifle bolts and a rifle scope.

“I just fired a shot into the air. I wasn’t hurting anybody,” the 29-year-old said when interviewed later by police.

Risk was ‘high and absolutely inexcusable’

At Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki’s sentencing, Judge Kim Saunders said an aggravating factor was that he had been drinking and taking drugs when he fired the shotgun, as well as it being loaded and underneath a mattress on which the children were sleeping.

“It beggars belief that you thought it was a good idea to have it there in the first place, let alone to discharge it.

“The risk that you posed to their safety, let alone anybody else in the house, was high and absolutely inexcusable.

The sawn-off shotgun Tiaki James Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki had stashed under a mattress.

“On top of all this, you are said to be a gang member.”

The judge noted an alcohol and drug report and found there was a causal link between his substance abuse and the offending.

“Unsurprisingly, you reported that you were in the midst of an extensive drug binge involving alcohol, cannabis, meth, and other substances.

“You have used alcohol and drugs as a form of self-medication since you were 12.

“There’s also the intergenerational entrenchment of the Mongrel Mob and the gang culture and all that brings with it.”

Judge Saunders noted Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki’s criminal history, which included a conviction for aggravated robbery in 2017.

She took an overall starting point of three years’ imprisonment, noting the high risk to the children.

“It’s all very well after the event to acknowledge that, but it could have been way too late for them.”

After applying discounts, she jailed Wahanga O Te Rangi Riki for 23 months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.