Meth use to blame, court told
AN Oamaru man who robbed a shop of more than $1000 did so to fund his methamphetamine habit, a court has heard.
Farm worker Kaade Wihonga Paea (35) appeared before the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a robbery which took place on November 24.
Paea got his friend Matthew Paul Sonntag to drop him near Lotto ‘N’ Things on the Thames Highway at the north end of the town at 12.30pm.
To the female shopkeeper the defendant looked like a man walking in wearing a hat, but things took a sinister turn when he rolled a balaclava over his face.
A police summary said Paea gave the impression he had a firearm in his pocket by keeping a hand placed inside it.
A statement from the vic tim showed she was convinced the robber was carrying a weapon.
She loaded $1357 into a plastic bag. ‘‘Hurry up. Hurry up. I want my money,’’ he told her.
Paea then moved on to the male store owner who was behind the counter of the Post Office section of the shop.
He demanded more money, but did not wait to receive it, instead sprinting across the busy road and over to a side street where Sonntag was waiting.
It was accepted at Sonntag’s earlier sentencing that he had been unaware of Paea’s plan and had no idea he was the getaway driver until his codefendant jumped into the car.
Paea gave his mate $100 from the stolen cash to keep the heist a secret.
The pair went from Oamaru to Timaru and Ashburton where Paea spent most of the money on cigarettes, alcohol and a gram of methamphetamine.
As they drove home, Paea heard a description of himself in connection with the earlier robbery over the radio.
He disposed of some of his clothes and Sonntag helped.
When he got home, Sonntag began to repaint his car.
While the police interpreted it as actively attempting to suppress evidence, the defendant claimed he had been in the process of sprucing up the car before the robbery took place.
It did not take police long to identify Paea as the masked man behind the robbery and a search warrant was executed at his home the next day.
By that time he had only $65 left, Judge Kevin Phillips said.
Defence counsel David McCaskill said his client’s addiction to the class A drug formed the backdrop to the incident.
Paea was keen to pay back the stolen money, he said.
The defendant was midway through completing a community detention and supervision sentence for an earlier drinkdriving incident at the time of the offending, the court heard.
Judge Phillips said Paea had a ‘‘strong footprint’’ of serious dishonesty, violence and drivingrelated charges in the courts.
He was jailed for two and ahalf years and ordered to make reparation of $1872.
Sonntag was incarcerated for nine months when he was sentenced in February on charges of receiving and being an accessory after the robbery.