Five years jail for ‘rampage of crime’

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 5

Five years jail for ‘rampage of crime’

PA Rotorua A man who went on a "rampage of crime" in the Waioeka Gorge with a young girl he was charged’ with abducting has been jailed for five years. Ernest Te Hurinui Kiri, aged 29, a scrub-cutter, of Gisborne, was sentenced by Mr Justice Bisson, in the High Court at Rotorua. Kiri's offending had shown him to be -a menace to society, he having gone on a rampage of crime not long after his release from prison, said his Honour. Kiri had pleaded guilty in the District Court at Whakatane to aggravated robbery, abducting a girl, aged 13, unlawfully taking a car, and four charges of burglary. He was sent to the High Court for sentence. The Rotorua Crown

solicitor, Mr D. J. McDonald, appeared for the Crown and Mr L. A. Andersen for Kiri. The charges related to events in the Waioeka and Te Karaka areas between April 25 and May 5. For Kiri. Mr L. A. Andersen said the events, apart from the dairy burglary, began when Kiri had heard that his brother needed help. He had taken a car with the idea of going to Whakatane to see his brother. He went further into trouble from that point. The girl involved was a relative, said Mr Andersen. She had demanded to go with Kiri. The girl was under age to consent to such an action, and Kiri did not have the consent of her parents for her to accompany him. His Honour said that Kiri took the girl on an aggrav-

ated robbery and gave her a loaded rifle. The attack on the farmer, from whom Kiri had taken a rifle and other property, was brutal. The man was hit with an iron pipe and kicked, he said.

Kiri was then on the run and had committed burglaries for food and shelter. Another rifle was taken from one of those premises.

His Honour said that he would take into account the fact that Kiri had surrendered peacefully, though both he and the girl were holding loaded rifles when they were apprehended.

He sentenced Kiri to five years jail on the aggravated robbery charge, to two years jail on the abduction count, and to one year’s jail each on the four burglaries and unlawfully taking -a car. The sentences are concurrent.