Gangster gunman avoids jail time
An associate of a gunman who shot a Palmerston North man in the stomach has avoided prison.
Although Black Power member Jackson Daniel Skipper didn’t fire the crippling shot, he did shoot at the victim’s house as his family inside fled for cover.
Judge Stephanie Edwards sentenced Skipper in the Palmerston North District Court to 10 months’ home detention and 180 hours’ community work yesterday.
She said Skipper, 29, was lucky to have dodged time behind bars, unlike his associate who fired the shot, who has been jailed for five years and nine months.
The duo initially threatened the victim’s partner on Facebook, before visiting their home on August 29, 2017. As the victim saw the gang members approach his back door, Skipper’s associate shot him in the stomach while his family ran to the other side of the house. They passed the firearm between each other, taunting the injured victim before Skipper shot the side of the house. The armed offenders squad swarmed Ronberg St, in the Palmerston North suburb of Highbury, later that day, but the two gunmen eluded police.
Although the victim made a full recovery, Skipper was charged with discharging a firearm with reckless disregard. He faced no charges in relation to the shooting of the victim.
The man responsible for shooting the victim was arrested when he surrendered to Palmerston North police without any trouble. He was sentenced last week.
This was Skipper’s second-strike offence, and if he was jailed he would have done the whole term without parole, Edwards said.
Skipper had shown a desire to leave the Black Power gang, which Edwards aided by adding a stipulation that he was not to be seen in the company of the gang’s associates while serving his sentence.
‘‘You have taken some steps to walk the walk, rather than talk the talk, but whether or not you continue to do so is in your hands,’’ Edwards said as Skipper’s family and partner watched from the public gallery.
‘‘You’ve got to decide where it is your life is headed. You have selfreported a desire to change and . . . discuss ways in which you can do so. I’m going to give you an opportunity.’’
In 2011, Skipper was jailed for four years for his role in robbing Palmerston North dairy the Rangiora Mini Mart.