Guilty of robbery

A man who denied even going to a dairy the night it was robbed has been found guilty of carrying out the crime.

Shaquille Michael Hepi was found guilty in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday of the aggravated robbery of Trenton Minimarket. The jury started deliberations just after 10am before giving a unanimous decision just after 4pm.

Security footage showed the Palmerston North dairy being robbed just before 7pm on June 13, 2017.

Hepi had gone to the store and asked about tobacco prices about 30 minutes earlier.

He was disguised, wearing two hoods, a black glove on one hand, trackpants and sunglasses. He also had a knife, which he prodded into a screen by the till while demanding cash and cigarettes.

The shop attendant put $300 and six packets of Club cigarettes – two each of red, blue and menthol varieties – into a plastic bag.

Hepi then bolted, nearly getting hit by Anthony Wagenaar, who was driving his ute to the store to buy cigarettes.

A pair of trackpants were found on one of the fences he jumped. A bloodstain containing his DNA was found inside a pocket.

He then went to a nearby supermarket with his partner, buying two bottles of fizzy drink for 89 cents each, before catching a taxi to a friend’s house to pick up DVDS. The taxi was stopped by police, with Hepi telling the officer they were going to get dinner.

He sent a text message to a friend the next day, saying he had a sealed packet of Club menthol cigarettes for sale.

He was arrested on July 14, 2017, and told police he had no part in the robbery.

He purchased the cigarettes the morning after the robbery, but wanted to sell them because he was given the wrong variety, he said.

Hepi was given a first strike under the three-strikes law for violent offenders, and will be sentenced in February.