A third person arrested after major police raids on an alleged synthetic cannabis supply ring has denied five charges at the Christchurch District Court.

Fei He, 45, has now been remanded to a Crown case review hearing on October 3, when she will appear at the same session as the two alleged co-offenders.

She entered not guilty pleas before Judge Tom Gilbert today, to two charges of money laundering, two of possessing a non-approved psycho-active substance, and one of supplying a non-approved psycho-active substance.

Her defence counsel will be Miranda Rout.

The charges arise from police raids in early May when they seized synthetic cannabis worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars in cash, and weapons including a gun and a torch fitted with a taser.

The police raided a house in Hei Hei, and a storage lock-up in Blenheim Road.

Already before the courts are Xiwen Miao, 27, a chef of Avonhead, charged with possession a non-approved psycho-active substance with intent to supply, and Zui Jun Zhou, a 31-year-old real estate agent, who faces six charges.

Zhou is charged with offering to sell the non-approved psycho-active substance, selling it, possessing it for sale, and unlawful possession of a taser, a shotgun, and ammunition.

The two men have already pleaded not guilty and are remanded to the same case review hearing, the next step on the way to a jury trial.

All three defendants are on bail.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

A man was forced to strip naked and squat in front a vehicle at the end of a gang-linked drugs shake-down, the Christchurch District Court was told.

The humiliation ended the attempt by gang members – mostly unidentified – at a robbery to obtain drugs. The group of five apparently hit the wrong targets and only got a few minor items – some money and cellphones.

The victims of the robbery have now effectively forgiven Ricky Michael Smith, 25, who has been jailed for a total of three years ten months.

Since his guilty plea, he has met them to apologise at a restorative justice conference, and he has sold a motorcycle and paid the $4000 reparations to them as reparations.

Smith had admitted the aggravated robbery charge, and he and his mother Connie Elizabeth Smith, 49, a rest home worker, had admitted charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

After his arrest, and while he was held in custody, Smith was recorded on prison telephones giving instructions on how at least two of the three robbery victims should be approached to change their statements to the police.

“It is as clear as possible an attempt to pervert the course of justice,” said Judge Raoul Neave as he sentenced the mother and son.

The mother had offered the victims money and sent them on holidays to get them to withdraw their statements. She arranged for one to engage a solicitor to get his statement withdrawn.

Judge Neave described it as “an insidious crime that contains dangers for our society”. He accepted that she had done it out of loyalty and affection for her son and with a misguided desire to make up to him for “neglect in the past”.

“You chose a most unfortunate way of trying to do so,” said the judge, imposing seven months of home detention.

The robbery took place in December 2014, in Bishopdale, when Ricky Smith and other unidentified men approached a vehicle containing two men and a woman who had gone to collect a car.

The occupants were punched – including one blow delivered by Ricky Smith – and two were forced into the back of a van. Their vehicle was searched and they were made to hand over items in their pockets. The robbers demanded to know where the drugs were.

They had the wrong victims, and there were no drugs.

The victims lost items as well as being subject to “ignominy and fear”, said Judge Neave.

One victim managed to escape, and the other two were allowed to leave, but one of the men was made to remove all his clothing and squat naked in front of the vehicle.

Defence counsel Peter Kaye detailed Ricky Smith’s genuine remorse, his attendance at the restorative justice meeting, his payment of reparations, and his “positive attitude to rehabilitation”.

Judge Neave noted the efforts Smith had made, including selling the motorcycle. “I suspect that with your background, that was quite important to you,” he said.

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Laneway Café has marked its first year in its permanent premises in Durham Street with a one-year birthday party for its regulars.

The swish operation has actually been providing great coffees and food to the inhabitants of the Christchurch Court House for years.

Stu and the staff began their operations in a caravan, and then moved to a more substantial set-up and then moved into a building when it was finished and became available.

The Court House crew — judges, lawyers, staff, media, and other regulars — have stuck with them for the quality offerings and the chance to have actual conversations away from the Court House itself.

It has been a loyal relationship both ways. The criminal justice fraternity has been happy to support an operation that set up shop in a part of the central city that was pretty barren after the earthquakes, serving a clientele that really, really needed coffee at the time, and still does.

Congratulations Stu and your friendly crew. Great work. See you at the morning adjournment on Monday.

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The Child Cancer Foundation has gained a $500 windfall from the prosecution of Kaiapoi man Simon Roy Reeve who breached Civil Aviation rules by flying his drone at Pines Beach when a helicopter was fighting a fire.

The donation was a condition of Reeve’s discharge without conviction after the charges against him were found proved by Christchurch District Court Judge Gary MacAskill.

Reeve, 38, was getting aerial video coverage of the fire-fighting operation but was convicted over the incident in January 2015 at a trial in April this year.

The charge involved causing unnecessary endangerment by flying the Phantom II drone while the helicopter was fire-fighting in the area. The court also heard of Reeve being prosecuted for flying the drone in controlled airspace without authorisation but no convictions needed to be entered in those cases, the judge said.

Judge MacAskill agreed to defence counsel Rupert Glover’s application last month, at the sentencing, for Reeve to be discharged without conviction, but the condition was that Reeve make a $500 donation to the charity of his choice.

The case was called before Judge MacAskill again today when Mr Glover confirmed that the donation had been made, and the discharge was granted.

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A 21-year-old burglar who repeatedly raided Selwyn District properties has claimed to have a conscience – he tried not to spoil children’s Christmases.

Luke Alexander Reich, of Burnham, says he avoided stealing presents that were obviously meant for children in his pre-Christmas break-ins.

The police say that in one Burnham house burglary, he took $200 cash, and searched a wallet and handbag, and then took a Christmas present from under the Christmas tree. The parcel was found unwrapped and the child’s present inside left neatly under a tree along the driveway.

Reich was a cool-headed prowler who often entered and searched through houses while residents were asleep inside. He kept going even when people disturbed his early morning visits.

He would take off his boots and put on soft shoes to minimise the sound of his footsteps on gravel driveways and then inside houses.

Reich pleaded guilty last month to 42 charges: 26 burglaries, 10 thefts, and six charges of unlawfully interfering with cars. The offences happened in Rolleston, Dunsandel, Burnham, West Melton, and one in Ohoka from November to early this year.

Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders noted that he had shown he had a conscience by avoiding or returning children’s gifts. He had begun offending when he had employment problems and his life had spiralled out of control.

The judge said the raids had caused a huge amount of distress to people.

Often he had targeted just cash, or small items such as chocolates, but in one burglary he had taken firearms worth $3000. The weapons were found among items at his home later.

Defence counsel Phillip Allan said Reich was willing to sell his motorcycle so that the money could go towards reparations for the victims. He would also be able to work after his release, to make further reparation payments. “He wants to put things right,” said Mr Allan.

Judge Saunders imposed a two year nine month jail term and ordered Reich to pay reparations totalling $10,268.

He said Reich was seen as a low risk of reoffending, but recommended to prison authorities that he be assessed for a drug and alcohol treatment programme during his time in custody. “That has been identified as a factor in your offending,” he said.

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A teenager who had not taken chances to address his synthetic cannabis addiction was jailed for over two years for the armed robbery of a convenience store, at the Christchurch District Court today.

Seventeen-year-old Dillion Connor McWhirter cried during his sentencing on charges of aggravated robbery and receiving stolen property.

Crown prosecutor Pip Norman said McWhirter suffered from substance abuse and an associated mental illness.

Defence counsel Kiran Paima said McWhirter had a limited Youth Court history, and a home detention sentence at a rehabilitation facility would help him.

Judge Alistair Garland said every effort to help McWhirter had failed because of his non-compliance, and his reports from probation and a psychologist were depressing.

He said on May 12, McWhirter was found in possession of a stolen mountain bike which he told police he had bought for $60. He said he had the feeling it had been stolen.

Then late on May 23 McWhirter entered the Metro Mart store in Colombo Street where the victim was closing up.

McWhirter placed some items on the counter then held out a knife and demanded money and cigarettes. He had cornered the staff member who told him the money was locked in a safe and it could not be opened. He also said he did not have a key to the till.

McWhirter dropped some of the cigarettes and saw the key as he was picking them up. He opened the cash drawer and took $200. He stuffed the cigarettes and the knife down his trousers, and ran out of the shop.

Judge Garland said McWhirter’s probation report said he was living in an abandoned building, and his daily focus was to obtain money, synthetic drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

He said McWhirter was assessed at a high risk of causing harm to others, and the report recommended a prison sentence.

McWhirter had been given opportunities to address his issues in the past, Judge Garland said, but he had failed to take advantage of them.

He said the items taken from the store McWhirter had visited frequently were worth $1711, but did not order reparation as McWhirter had no way to pay it.

He said McWhirter had used alcohol and drugs from a very young age in dysfunctional family circumstances, and he was using crime to fund his synthetic cannabis habit.

He did not believe McWhirter was genuinely motivated to reform yet, and was not persuaded that he would be helped by substantial reduction in his sentence so he could be admitted to a rehabilitation programme at Odyssey House.

He sentenced him to two years nine months prison

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A man police allege used a taser to try to rob a dairy in Opawa in July has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges in the Christchurch District Court.

Edward Paul Paterson, 24, appeared by video link from the Christchurch Men’s Prison, and denied two charges of assault using a taser to rob the dairy owners, being in possession of two shotguns, ammunition, a taser, a knife, a meat cleaver, an axe, and a pipe for using methamphetamine.

Defence counsel Andrew Bailey said Paterson did not seek bail, and wanted a judge-alone trial.

Judge John Strettell remanded Paterson in custody to a case review hearing on October 10.

Police allege that about 8am on July 30, Paterson tried to use the stun gun on Kamlesh and Neeta Patel, who fought him off and followed him out of the dairy and noted his licence plate.

Police set up cordons in the area and stopped a car on Tunnel Road a short time later, and found weapons in the car.

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A man was bashed with hammers and knuckledusters, punched and stomped during a 16-hour kidnapping by members and associates of the Aotearoa Mongrel Mob, the Crown alleged as a three-week trial began in the High Court at Christchurch.

The victim, Dawson Reihana – a member of the Notorious chapter of the Mongrel Mob – was tied up with duct tape during the incident which began at a house in Ajax Street, Shirley, and ended with his escape from a house at Bowenvale Avenue.

Reihana, 35, managed to escape when the man left guarding him fell asleep. He called the police with a 111 call twice, using his “guard’s” cellphone.

Trial judge Justice Cameron Mander told the jury that the defendants and the victim had associations with the Mongrel Mob. “That circumstance is simply part of the background of the evidence you are going to hear. It is very important that you put aside any negative feelings you may have about gangs and people who involve themselves in gangs. The oath you have taken (as jurors) requires you to do that.”

Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all charges, are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, Jason Phillip Reweti, 35, a labourer, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27.

All are charged with kidnapping Reihana. Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Crown prosecutor Kathy Bell said the incident happened over about 16 hours from the afternoon of August 8, 2015.

She said Reihana was asked by Mulvey to go to the Ajax Street address, where he was confronted by Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert, all armed with hammers. They assaulted him, and other unknown attackers joined in.

Reihana was restrained with tape around his hands and feet.

Messages from Turner invited two others to the address, and one brought a van which was then used to transport Reihana to Bowenvale Avenue, accompanied by another car.

Reihana was subjected to more assaults by Keefe, Rowe, and another man. Knuckledusters were used in the assaults, which targeted Reihana’s eyes, Miss Bell said.

Reihana was put into the van again and driven around various addresses in Christchurch. His attackers had asked about the addresses of his friends.

When they got back to Bowenvale Avenue, he was detained and assaulted again. Corbin came to the address and punched and stomped him.

Reweti’s role was to act as a guard, and he was detained in Reweti’s room. Reihana got to Reweti’s work phone when he fell asleep and called the police.

The police arrived and found Rowe and Corbin leaving the address. A bloodstain on the sole of Corbin’s shoe corresponded to Reihana’s DNA.

Reihana then came out of the address and it was obvious he had been seriously assaulted. He was taken to hospital. Reihana’s blood was found at the Ajax Street house and in the van.

Reweti was found at the address and said he had been sleeping and was not aware what was happening. Keefe had Reihana’s blood on his clothing, but said he had picked him up when he found him on the road. Gilbert and Mulvey were found later. Gilbert said nothing, but Mulvey said he had been with Reihana at Ajax Street but things had been “okay”.

Efforts had been made to wash clothes and clean up the scene. Knuckledusters were found hidden in the ash in a fireplace.

Miss Bell said it had been a “joint criminal enterprise” to assault Reihana.

Defence counsel Tony Garrett for Mulvey said his client was described as a ringleader but there was no forensic evidence linking him to the events claimed.

Tony Greig, for Turner, said Reihana had got into conflict with some colleagues and had then panicked and called the police, and then exaggerated what had happened to him.

Rupert Glover, for Keefe and Gilbert, urged the jury to pay close attention to cross-examination because it would mean the Crown’s claims were not nearly as clear.

Craig Ruane, for Reweti, questioned whether the Crown could prove Reweti was part of any joint criminal enterprise. He had moved into a house where “people had used him, used his cellphone, and got up to their own activities”.

Tim Fournier said the issue for Corbin was whether he had actively participated in the detention of Reihana or had intended to cause him really serious harm.

The trial is continuing.

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When Dawson Reihana sneaked a cellphone from his “guard” and phoned police communications to tell them he had been kidnapped and bashed by Mongrel Mob members, he did not know where he was.

Finding him was the puzzle police faced early on the morning of August 9, 2015, at the start of what became the Operation Vale investigation which is now playing out as a three-week trial in the High Court.

Reihana, 35, told police he had been bashed with hammers and knuckledusters, punched and stomped, while he was held at addresses in Ajax Street, Shirley, and then overnight at an address in Bowenvale Avenue, Cashmere. He said he was transported between addresses in a van, and was asked about his friends’ addresses.

Seven men are on trial for allegedly kidnapping or bashing Reihana, who is associated with the Notorious Mongrel Mob chapter. The men on trial are members or have links to the Aotearoa chapter.

Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all charges, are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, Jason Phillip Reweti, 35, a labourer, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27.

All are charged with kidnapping Reihana. Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The second day of the trial before Justice Cameron Mander and a jury was told by police witnesses that they were alerted by police communications to “a kidnapping in Cashmere”.

The Crown told the trial yesterday that Reihana – already bashed and injured – had managed to get to the work cellphone of the man left “guarding” him at a Bowenvale Avenue address, Reweti, after Reweti fell asleep. He called 111.

Police said the location of the caller was unknown, and Reihana did not know. Police checked the cellphone signal and narrowed it down to a 1km radius of a cellphone tower in Cashmere.

Units including armed police headed into the area, stopped a Mongrel Mob vehicle leaving the area, and also decided that the location could be a Mob house in Bowenvale Avenue.

Police witnesses said they surrounded the house and stopped two men seen leaving the house, and then found Reihana himself walking out. He was taken to hospital.

Detective Donavan Aitken told of questioning Mulvey who was arrested for assault after being found at another address. When Mulvey was told of the allegation by Reihana that he had been “kneecapped”, he replied: “He’s got an active imagination.”

Dr Christine Quigley told of Reihana being brought to the Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department by ambulance on August 9, with obvious injuries. He had extensive bruising to his face and was complaining of “pain in multiple areas”.

There was bruising around his eyes and they were swollen shut. He had several lacerations to his head including one where the tissue had been lost, leaving a small hole 2cm by 1.5cm. He had bruising to his chest wall and stomach area, and left knee.

X-rays and scans showed the only broken bone was a nasal fracture, which did not need surgery.

Dr Quigley said Reihana was “calm and co-operative”, and was fully conscious.

There were mild head injuries, with several lacerations and a fair amount of soft tissue swelling, she said when cross-examined by a defence lawyer who asked about the extent of injuries that might be expected if someone had been bashed by claw hammers.

The trial will continue with evidence from Reihana on Monday morning.

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A woman who allowed her house to be taken over by drug offenders, and then “joined in” and supplied methamphetamine herself, was sentenced to home detention in the Christchurch District Court.

Twenty-five-year-old Kelsi Anne Sherriff was arrested after a police raid of her home in North Canterbury in February, where methamphetamine residue and 9g of cannabis was found.

Defence counsel Steven Rollo said Sherriff had started her own business and bought her own home when she was involved in a car crash and could not work.

He said the wrong crowd hung around her and her house, completely taking over and offending there.

Sherriff’s parents had since moved into her home, and were making sure she was getting back on track, he said.

Sherriff would struggle with a custodial or home detention sentence as her pre-sentence report said she had anxiety issues, he said. He recommended the judge sentence her to community detention so she could attend appointments set up by ACC, and her physiotherapist.

Judge John Strettell sentenced Sherriff on charges on supplying methamphetamine, selling cannabis, and possessing a pipe for methamphetamine.

He said it was apparent Sherriff was a street-level dealer, earning enough to pay for her own methamphetamine addiction.

She was in an unusual position. She had been a successful young woman with employment and a reasonable income, but the accident meant she had to give up her business, he said.

A combination of loss of status and employment, stress, and the influence of more criminally sophisticated people led her to the offending.

He said this type of offending was always treated seriously, even if Sherriff had been on the outlying area of involvement.

He sentenced her to seven months’ home detention, with special conditions to be assessed for counselling, treatment, and rehabilitation programmes, and post-release conditions for a further six months.

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An 18-year-old has been charged with an alleged attempted armed burglary at the Campus Corner Dairy in Upper Riccarton on Monday afternoon.

The Riccarton teen, Quade Mihaere Kavanagh, made a brief appearance in the Christchurch District Court where Judge Tony Couch remanded him on bail to appear again on September 20.

Police allege Kavanagh was one of three men who entered the dairy on the corner of Ilam Road and Rountree Street, and the charge says that Kavanagh was armed with an axe.

Police said that it appeared nothing was taken from the dairy, and the names of the co-offenders are not known.

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A 35-year-old North Canterbury man appeared in court today on violence charges including assaults on a 14-week-old baby.

Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch granted the man interim name suppression until his next appearance on September 14.

The police charging documents allege that in November 2015 he caused grievous bodily harm to the baby, and assaulted the baby.

Other charges allege assaults on a woman, and breaches of a protection order by phone calls and texts.

Defence counsel April Kelland asked the judge for the name suppression, and said he had applied for legal aid. She said pleas would be entered at his next appearance, and the interim name suppression order would have to be re-argued.

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Activist and union organiser Joseph Robert Davies has been left “a broken man” after being caught for child abuse pornography offending, according to his lawyer.

Defence counsel Kerry Cook said the 60-year-old’s life had been ruined by his offending – he had pleaded guilty to five charges brought by the Customs Department of possessing, distributing, and exporting objectionable material.

Mr Cook said: “He has lost his job, lost his retirement savings. His relationship is under significant strain. He has lost of lot of his friends, and lost forever his good name. He has suffered public humiliation.

“He is truly a broken man because of this.”

Davies was appearing in the Christchurch District Court for sentencing after admitting the charges in June.

Mr Cook said the pre-sentence report referred favourably about the support people available to Davies. The community would be best served by him being allowed to remain in the community and continue with the rehabilitation he was paying for himself.

Crown prosecutor Heather McKenzie said the location of Davies’ collection of images had never been found. She questioned the effectiveness of the elements of “general deterrence” raised by the defence.

The court was told earlier that he had been arrested for images or videos distributed or exported through his involvement in internet chat rooms, and found on his computer. The images involved penetrative sex between adults and girls aged under 12, sadism, bondage, exposure, and erotic poses.

Judge Tom Gilbert said: “This is not a victimless crime. Each image depicts a real child, somewhere in the world, being horrifically violated.”

The offending caused “incalculable misery to innocent kids around the world”.

Davies had been involved in anti-apartheid protests and had dedicated himself to assisting others. He had been active in aid movements and was a trade union representative.

That made it the “greatest contradiction” of the offending – how could a man who was aware of the plight of others, engage in offending which, at its core, involved the defilement of children.

Because of Davies’ distinguishing personal circumstances, he could grant home detention. Davies’ offending was just as abhorrent as others’, but “as a person you are different”.

He imposed an 11-month home detention term, with an additional year of post-release conditions. Davies will be allowed no internet access unless it is supervised and for work purposes. A probation officer will be allowed to check the browsing history of any computer he uses.

He will also have to do 250 hours of community work.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

For his own safety, a man will likely be shifted from Christchurch Men’s Prison to serve a 27-month jail term after severing his links with a gang.

The man’s partner has already had to move away from the city because of pressure from the gang.

Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders told Mac Kenneth Gilchrist, 34, that now that he had dissociated himself from the gang he might be shifted to a jail away from Christchurch to do an intensive three-month drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme.

Gilchrist was appearing for sentence after admitting charges of demanding money with intent to steal it, and aggravated robbery.

Defence counsel Allister Davis said Gilchrist had pleaded guilty to the charges after being shifted to another Christchurch prison wing, away from the presence of the gang, to ensure his safety.

He had received numerous threats. “His partner has moved away from Christchurch because of steps taken by the gang against her.”

It was difficult to move away from the gang, particularly while he was in custody. “There seems to be a pact amongst gang members that you don’t plead guilty in any circumstances, even when there is an overwhelming case against you – you take the police right to the wire.”

Gilchrist had provide a letter of apology to the victim – the same man for each offence – though Mr Davis referred to the victim as selling cannabis to gangs.

Judge Saunders said the incident occurred in Christchurch in February when Gilchrist demanded $1000 from the victim for a debt, and two days later Gilchrist and another man approached him again about a car which the other man claimed he owned. Gilchrist forced the victim to go to The Palms to transfer ownership of the car.

Judge Saunders reduced the man’s sentence for the rehabilitation steps he had already taken in custody, his letter of apology, and for breaking his links with the gang. The apology letter would help the victim to realise that Gilchrist would not pose a threat after his release.

If Gilchrist now did an intensive rehabilitation programme, the Parole Board might soon see him as “suitable for release in another part of New Zealand where you will not be associating with the same anti-social people”.

Gilchrist had asked not to be transported to the Court House for his sentencing, and it was done by video-link from the prison.

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A 35-year-old is claiming he has been caught up in the Operation Vale police swoop because he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Jason Phillip Reweti, a fibre optic technician, is on trial at the High Court in Christchurch with six Mongrel Mob members or associates, on charges of kidnapping and bashing a rival Mob member, Dawson Reihana.

Reweti made no statement and called no evidence at the trial, but his case was put to the jury in the closing address of his defence counsel, Craig Ruane, on the trial’s seventh day.

The Crown case arising from the police’s Operation Vale investigation has been that Reweti was left to guard Reihana, who had been tied up with tape and badly beaten at addresses in Shirley, and at a Mob address in Bowenvale Avenue.

Reihana gave evidence that when the man left guarding him fell asleep, he chewed his way through the tape wound around his hands and called the police on a cellphone nearby, which turned out to be Reweti’s work phone.

Mr Ruane said there was a lack of evidence about Reweti’s involvement.

He said the phone was not an indication that Reweti was the “guard”, and called into question Reihana’s identification. He said there was another similarly dressed man also at the house at the time.

There was no suggestion that Reweti had taken part in the assaults on Reihana. Mr Ruane suggested spots of Reihana’s blood on Reweti’s trousers could have been smeared or wiped onto the clothing when he went through a door where blood was smeared as Reihana left the property.

Reweti left moments after Reihana and was stopped by the police.

There was no indication of Reweti’s involvement with the Mongrel Mob. “He happened to be in a house in which some of the Mongrel Mob had set up camp,” said Mr Ruane. “He’s just a bloke who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all charges, are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, Reweti, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27.

All are charged with kidnapping Reihana. Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

All evidence in the trial was completed early on Friday, and then the jury heard closing addresses by the Crown and all defence counsel. Justice Cameron Mander will sum up on Monday before the jury retires to consider its verdicts.

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Five more indecent assault charges have been laid against a Christchurch professional man bringing the total of alleged victims to 10.

The additional charges were laid at the Christchurch District Court today as the man appeared before a case review hearing after pleading not guilty to the earlier charges.

The new charges date from 2011 to 2015 and refer to male victims. All the offending is alleged to have occurred in Christchurch.

The 61-year-old man has had interim suppression of his name and occupation since his first appearance in court in June. The court was told today that he was no longer practising.

The man has now pleaded not guilty to all charges, and was remanded on continued bail today by Judge Paul Kellar to a further case review hearing on November 14.

Defence counsel Paul Wicks QC applied for continued interim name suppression for the man to continue, but the application was opposed in court by Fairfax Media. The submissions and grounds were suppressed.

Judge Kellar ruled against continued suppression, but the order will remain in place pending an appeal to the High Court which was immediately signalled by Mr Wicks.

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The jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of six men alleged to be members or associates of the Mongrel Mob on charges of kidnapping and bashing a rival mob member.

Justice Cameron Mander spent the morning summing up the case to the jury in the High Court at Christchurch.

The jury began its deliberations when he finished his address soon after 1pm.

Today is the eighth day of the trial, in which the Crown has called evidence from about 40 witnesses.

Before the court, after pleading not guilty to all are Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Jason Phillip Reweti, 35, a fibre optic technician, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27.

All are charged with kidnapping Dawson Reihana, who gave evidence last week of being bound with tape and beaten with hammers and knuckledusters, and punched and kicked at addresses in Shirley and Bowenvale Avenue.

Mulvey, Turner, and Gilbert are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. All except Keefe are charged with injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Before Justice Mander’s summing up, Mathew James Rowe, 41, a bricklayer, was discharged on charges of kidnapping and injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The court reconvened just after 5pm and the jury was sent away for the night. It will gather to resume its deliberations at 10am on Tuesday.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

After what was described in court as a  “squabble between gangs”, much of the Aotearoa chapter of the Mongrel Mob and its associates in Christchurch are in jail facing long prison terms.

A jury convicted six members in the High Court of kidnapping a rival gang member, and five of them on various charges of bashing him in a 16-hour episode in August 2015.

Justice Cameron Mander remanded all six in custody for sentencing on September 29. He asked for pre-sentence reports and a victim impact report. He thanked the jury members for their service in the nine-day trial and told them: “Go back to your normal lives. Forget about the trial.”

The jury was told that three men had admitted charges related to the incident ahead of the trial, and they are also awaiting sentence. It was not told what charges they had admitted.

The police investigation – Operation Vale – and the jury’s findings must have dealt a serious blow to the Mongrel Mob in Christchurch.

Nine members of the gang, or its associates, are now either in custody or awaiting sentence on charges that are going to bring serious jail time.

Matthew Joshua Mulvey, 35, Leon Delshannon Turner, 41, a builder, Peter Damian Gilbert, 46, a concrete worker, August Keefe, 57, Jason Phillip Reweti, 35, a labourer, and Dylan Raymond Shannon Corbin, 27, were all convicted by the jury of kidnapping Dawson Reihana.

Mulvey and Turner were convicted of wounding and injuring him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Gilbert was convicted of wounding him and injuring him, but was acquitted on a second charge of injuring.

Keefe was convicted on two charges of injuring.

Reweti was convicted on one charge of injuring and acquitted on a second charge.

Corbyn was acquitted on a charge of injuring.

A seventh man was discharged during the trial.

The trial revealed a low-rent attempt by one chapter of the Mongrel Mob to extort money or drugs from another chapter of the same gang. It pitched the Aotearoa chapter against the Notorious chapter. One lawyer described the incident in court as a “squabble between gangs”.

The trial displayed some unexpected things about the gang’s dynamics, especially after evidence in the trial from the victim – 35-year-old Dawson Reihana – that he was amazed that he was being dealt to so harshly by his gang “brothers”.

It wasn’t really a matter of luring Reihana to an address in Ajax Street, Shirley, where he would be beaten and kidnapped – all they had to do was invite him with a text from someone he knew.

He turned up and was set upon by three men who were waiting for him with claw hammers.

He said he was beaten with the hammers and also knuckledusters after others joined in. He was taped hand and foot, and punched and stomped.

His two cellphones were taken from him and the Mob members used the phones to send messages to all his friends demanding money and drugs for his freedom. He was hurt that no ransom was ever paid, he said in his police interview.

After that DVD interview – recorded as he lay in his hospital bed, bandaged and dosed on morphine – was played to the trial, Reihana admitted in court that he may have “over-exaggerated”.

He eventually escaped when his “guard” fell asleep, and he was able to chew through the tape on his hands and get to a cellphone to call the police. That second kidnap scene, at a Mob address in Bowenvale Avenue, was surrounded by police by the time Reihana made his way out to safety and an immediate trip to hospital.

The defence made much of the fact that his injuries did not appear to match up with his claims. He had plenty of wounds, but the only broken bone was in his nose. They suggested that it may not have quite lived up to his assertion that he had been bashed in the head and knees with claw hammers, and was the victim of an assault and kidnap that went on for 16 hours.

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A judge has reduced the jail sentence for a 22-year-old charged with arranging the sexual abuse of a toddler because of his claim of longstanding abuse by a male relative.

Matthew Garland Kelly, 22, of Halswell, was jailed for five years by Judge Paul Kellar in the Christchurch District Court. The judge said his behaviour had been “reprehensible”.

But he said he would take into account Kelly’s claim that the offending had not occurred in isolation and a factor could be abuse he suffered over a long period at the hands of a relative.

He reduced Kelly’s sentence by a year for his youth, another year for his previous good character – he has no previous convictions – and two years for the abuse he claimed to have suffered as a child and young man.

Judge Kellar said Kelly had procured a woman to commit the sexual violation by oral sex on a boy aged 15 months and send him video of the act.

The hearing began with submissions relating to a defence application for a new name suppression order, on the grounds that it would cause extreme hardship.

Defence counsel Andrew Bailey said the woman involved in the offending against the child had been granted home detention but had asked for a prison sentence instead for safety reasons – she had received death threats.

Krystal Harvey, 23, of Auckland, had name suppression, but the order was revoked and then put back in place, and then finally disposed of by the High Court. She admitted charges of sexual violation by unlawful connection and making an objectionable publication and was jailed for three years nine months.

Mr Bailey said publication of in-court photographs taken of Kelly would not help with his rehabilitation, and there was limited public interest in his identification because the offending was online. It could also lead to threats to Kelly’s safety when he was released from prison.

Judge Kellar ruled that name suppression would be refused, and in-court photography would be allowed.

Kelly pleaded guilty in June to 16 charges – five of making an objectionable publication, 10 of possession of an objectionable publication, and one of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

Mr Bailey argued that Kelly’s culpability was less than Harvey’s because she had carried out the actual violation, and she had sent the video of the act to him.

Kelly paid the woman $300 for the video. Kelly was found in possession of images on his cellphone of women and men in sex acts with naked children, and photographs of naked children. Some charges refer to bestiality images. Kelly had about 70 images he had taken of himself wearing only a nappy. Some charges refer to online conversations Kelly has had about the sex acts he would like to perform on children.

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A woman who had used a dementia patient’s chequebook to write herself nine cheques totalling $23,500 was sentenced to community work and supervision.

In the Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan said Cheree Margaret Freitas, 26, was relied on to help an 88-year-old man with housework and chores. She took advantage of his age, health, and declining memory issues, when he could not do anything about the offending.

Defence counsel Teresa Penman said Freitas had written an apology email to the victim’s daughter, but the daughter did not want to attend a restorative justice meeting.

She said Freitas had no assets or resources, but had offered to pay reparation at $100 a week, and was committed to paying the money back.

Freitas’ pre-sentence report said the fraud offending was inexplicable, out of character, and it was her first offence. It said she was a low risk of harm to others.

Ms Penman said the victim was vulnerable, and Freitas was in a position of trust with access to his cheque book. He has died and may not have been aware of the offending, but his daughter brought it to the attention of the police. Freitas was extremely remorseful, she said.

Judge Callaghan said Freitas copied the victim’s signature on nine cheques between November 2015 and February 2016. He said the temptation had been too much for her, and she was greedy and took advantage.

He said he had confidence that she had learnt her lesson and would pay back the money. He sentenced her to 250 hours’ community work, six months’ supervision with treatment and counselling as directed by her probation officer, and reparation of $23,500.

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