Gangster’s guilty plea to shooting

A senior patched Tribesmen member has pleaded guilty to shooting his own gang’s boss, just minutes before his attempted murder trial was set to begin.

O¯tara resident Teratutonu Herewini, 37, was sergeant-at-arms for the gang when he was arrested in December 2022, one month after gang president Dion “Buzz” Snell was gunned down in a South Auckland car park as he and fellow Tribesmen members celebrated Samoa’s victory over Tonga in the Rugby League World Cup.

Snell was shot twice before running away from Herewini, who fled the scene, police alleged. The gang leader was taken to Middlemore Hospital with critical injuries but discharged himself less than a week later so he could participate in the gang’s 40th-anniversary party, which included a large motorbike convoy through Auckland that ended at a winery in Kumeu¯.

One bullet had entered and exited his stomach, while another had passed through his forearm.

Herewini stood before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith yesterday as he entered the guilty plea for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, while a pool of prospective jurors waited on another floor in the High Court at Auckland for the trial to begin.

Justice Wilkinson-Smith set a sentencing date for next month.

Crown prosecutor Tiffany Cooper, KC, had been prepared to argue at trial that Herewini had committed attempted murder rather than wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The guilty plea to the alternative charge is unlikely to have a bearing on Herewini’s sentence. Both carry a maximum possible punishment of 14 years’ imprisonment.

The shooting initially sparked fears of an increase in gang violence.

It occurred just months after a gang war between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez resulted in a months-long string of drive-by shootings and arsons. A truce, however, was eventually brokered.

Detectives turned their attention away from the Killer Beez after Herewini became a suspect.

The Tribesmen formed in the Bay of Plenty region in 1980 before establishing chapters in O¯tara and Northland. In recent years, the gang has expanded to Christchurch.

Herewini waved to supporters in the courtroom before he was taken back to jail to await sentencing.

Snell was not present during the brief hearing. He has declined to cooperate with police.