Ten-year jail term for shooting hotel manager

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 4

Ten-year jail term for shooting hotel manager

PA Auckland The man who shot a publican in the face because he thought he had called police to the pub has been jailed for 10 years.

Imposing sentence on Phillip Hiku in the High Court at Auckland, Mr Justice Sinclair said yesterday he wanted it to be a lesson for the “despised and hated” Pukekohe

chapter of the Black Power gang. Mr Justice Sinclair said Hiku, aged 27, had led a relatively blameless life until he joined the gang which “caused untold trouble” in and around Pukekohe. Last December Hiku, a welder, took a sawn-off

double-barrelled shotgun and tried to kill the assistant manager of the Pukekohe Hotel, Mr David Lawrence, “in retribution”. “But had you not shot him, someone else would have,” His Honour told Hiku. Hiku’s gang thought it had a God-given right to do what it wanted in Pukekohe and in the Pukekohe Hotel, Mr Justice Sinclair said. “The sooner gangs go out of existence, the better,” he said. “Members of gangs commit all types of crime, including murder and rape — the community has to foot the bill.” Hiku told police he was “annoyed” with the publi-

can after police twice visited the bar he was drinking in that night. He found Mr Lawrence counting the evening’s cash taking and shot him through a glass partition. He drove to Karaka, and broke the shotgun in three pieces and threw it in a fast-running river. In the Papakura District Court, Hiku had admitted a charge of attempted murder, Mr Lawrence has just been released from hospital but has been told he will need reconstructive surgery to his face. ; He may lose one eye and his vision has been permanently Impaired. He is not expected to be’able to work for some time.