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Monique Ford/Stuff
A shotgun was fired down the hall of a house in Upper Hutt during a party, a judge says. (File photo)
Taking part in gang-related “dispute resolution” with a 12-gauge shotgun has earned Teimana Tawhai a prison sentence of five years and two months.
Tawhai, who turned 24 on Sunday and was sentenced at the High Court in Wellington on Monday morning, had pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary and aggravated wounding.
The charges were from a shooting in Upper Hutt on January 10, 2022, when Tawhai and two other men went to a house where there was a party.
Justice Francis Cooke said there was an altercation at the door with a person from the house.
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The occupant fled along the hall and the 12-gauge shotgun was fired three times, with pellets hitting the fleeing man’s abdomen. The judge said the wounds caused were not particularly serious.
Tawhai, who appeared in the court dock showing several Mongrel Mob tattoos, did not hold or discharge the shotgun during the gang-related “dispute resolution” exercise, the judge said.
After a police chase the judge called short and erratic, the getaway vehicle was stopped and the pump-action shotgun found.
Tawhai’s lawyer, Carrie Parkin, said he had been heavily under the influence of alcohol at the time.
Others are before the court and are yet to be dealt with from the same incident.
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