Mongrel Mob members will spend years behind bars for a prison bashing that lasted 38 seconds.
The five-on-four attack in the E Block exercise yard at Christchurch Men’s Prison left one victim with a broken jaw and another with a twisting fracture of the leg.
Three of the Mob members pleaded guilty just before their trial was due to begin in December, and they received their jail terms from Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar today. Two pleaded guilty earlier and were sentenced separately.
Judge Kellar said the fact that the assault took place between groups in prison “makes matters worse”.
The incident happened on June 22, 2016, as the culmination of tensions between the two groups.
Adam Travis, 42, and his son Reggie Kenneth Roberts, 22, of Aranui, pleaded guilty to charges of intentionally injuring the victim whose jaw was broken. Roberts also admitted assaulting a woman in a separate incident, while he had a modified golf club as a weapon.
Reweti, 35, a fibre optic technician, admitted a more serious charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to injure. He had attacked a separate victim, punching and kicking him and breaking his leg.
The prison yard incident was mostly recorded on closed circuit video, and lasted just 38 seconds.
Judge Kellar jailed Travis for two years five months, noting his efforts at rehabilitation while on remand. He has done an alcohol and drug rehabilitation course, a first aid course, and obtained certificates for training through the Open Polytechnic. The judge said Travis had now realised he did not want to keep on spending spells in prison.
He jailed Reweti for three years, noting that he was already serving a sentence for injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and kidnapping.
He jailed Roberts for a total of three years six months for the two violent incidents.
All the men have Mongrel Mob connections, and have histories including convictions for violence.
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