Six years jail for ‘brutal attack’

Press, 1 November 1985, Page 18

Six years jail for ‘brutal attack’

PA Auckland A Headhunter gang member, sentenced to life imprisonment last month for murder, has been sentenced to six years jail for a brutal attack that left a man grossly disabled. Passing sentence in the High Court in Auckland, Mr Justice Barker said of the victim, Robert Ngamu: “According to his mother he can only communicate by means of a grunt.” Mr Ngamu was now grossly disabled, he said. Graham Te Awa, aged 28, had earlier pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm in an incident at the Foundry night club on September 23 last year. His Honour said Te Awa’s attack was a brutish assault committed with little, if any, reason. Te Awa had not been content to beat Ngamu sav-

agely in the nightclub, but outside in the car-park he kicked him in the head. Defence counsel, Mr Don Mathias, said there had been some interaction between the girlfriend of someone Te Awa knew and the victim. Te Awa, he said, had not known his own strength. He kicked the victim several times in the head wearing running shoes, not boots or shoes with hard soles, said Mr Mathias. Te Awa was sentenced in the High Court last month to life imprisonment for the murder of Siaesi Evalu in a Ponsonby street in April. The murder, said Mr Justice Barker, was apparently committed while Te Awa was on bail charged with the September offence. The sentences would be concurrent, he said.