18-year-old woman jailed after violent crime spree

An 18-year-old woman faces over seven years in prison for a prolific crime spree that included a vicious attack on a woman arriving for work at an Auckland mall last year.

Such was the catalogue of Kaioda Aleigh Rawiri’s offending, the judge was unable to list all of the pertinent facts as she handed down the teenager’s hefty sentence.

Auckland District Court Judge Russell Collins significantly reduced what would have been a 20-year sentence, in a court judgment published on Tuesday.

Rawiri was sentenced in March on six charges of aggravated robbery between December 28, 2015, and January 4, 2016.

She also faced three charges of burglary, four charges of theft, six charges of unlawfully taking motor vehicles, one of unlawful interference, a charge of driving while forbidden, a charge of failing to stop, a charge of reckless driving and another charge of failing to answer bail.

Judge Collins referred to the ‘‘most serious of the aggravated robberies’’ on January 14, 2016.

Rawiri and two other young people attacked a 22-year-old woman who had just arrived at Auckland’s Sylvia Park Mall to begin her shift as a retail assistant.

While the young woman was paying for parking, she was pulled to the ground and dragged about 2 metres by her hair, the judgment stated.

She managed to throw her wallet into the bushes, but dropped her car keys while being dragged. The three youths kicked and punched her in the head and body while she lay in the foetal position, in an attempt to minimise their blows.

The woman’s dress and jacket were ‘‘covered in blood and dust,’’ the judgment said.

She was heavily bruised on the jaw and upper thigh, and suffered cuts and abrasions to her knees and feet.

One held her head down while Rawiri was kicking her. The third person, who joined the group later, picked up the woman’s car keys and they took off in the vehicle.

Her cellphone, valued at $1000, was taken.

Rawiri also made off with items inside the car, including a leather handbag, Kindle ebook reader and pair of prescription driving glasses, which had a combined value of $580.

Judge Collins said Rawiri’s other aggravated robberies were characterised by a general pattern: often involving other young people, and taking people’s cars.

He also said she would target women by themselves, attacking and robbing them, as she did with a further five women.

Rawiri’s other charges related to the burglaries of homes, and thefts which were incident to her other offending, such as driving off from petrol stations without paying.

She was also involved in a supermarket theft and other car thefts.

Judge Collins said Rawiri’s actions had a ‘‘severe’’ impact on her victims, the judgment said.

‘‘The offending was planned, it was premeditated, it involved others and it was extensive,’’ he said in the judgment.

Rawiri was sentenced to 86 months, totalling seven years and two months’ imprisonment.