Teen avoids jail over shooting

The young woman who carried the pistol used to shoot a Wellington taxi driver has been sentenced to community detention and intensive supervision.

Paris Te Aroha Ohuka was 17 when driver Alem Tesema was shot in the shoulder. She has since turned 18.

In the High Court at Wellington yesterday, Justice Susan Thomas said Ohuka was now pregnant and had her child to think about. Ohuka would be reporting to her over every two months over the next year to monitor her progress on the sentence.

Ohuka pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of the firearm and was sentenced to six months’ community detention, with a 7pm to 7am curfew each day. The father of the child is in prison in the meantime but Ohuka is due to serve the sentence at his mother’s home.

Ohuka also has 12 months’ intensive supervision, during which she has to be psychologically assessed and undergo any treatment as directed.

Ohuka was carrying the shortbarrelled pistol in her bag when she and Dylan Nuku caught a taxi from central Wellington on November 18.

Justice Thomas said the evidence was not clear whether the pistol was loaded when it was in Ohuka’s bag, but it was at least in close proximity to ammunition and was able to be loaded.

The judge said Ohuka’s actions could not be said to be entirely innocent, since she and Nuku donned sunglasses before getting into the taxi, and the driver was directed to various places in Miramar before he was told to stop in a commercial area.

The driver refused to get out of the taxi when Nuku demanded, and was shot.

Nuku, 27, pleaded guilty to charges of wounding Tesema with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and having the firearm. He was sentenced to seven years’ jail.

Tesema came to New Zealand from Ethiopia 20 years ago. He supported his mother who still lived in Ethiopia, but he has lacked confidence to return to taxi driving and has not been able to find other work. He feels unsafe and continues to need medication.