Meth raid at wrong house
An innocent householder was left bound, broken, and bloodied when a methamphetamine robber got the address wrong.
The Christchurch victim says the doctors consider it may take years for him to recover from the trauma of the January 19 raid by 48-year-old Ihaka John Timu.
In his victim impact statement, he also described how the raid had upset his neighbour’s six-year-old son, who found him covered in blood after he had freed himself from his bonds and struggled to the entranceway where he collapsed.
Christchurch District Court Judge Alistair Garland jailed Timu for seven years, six months at his sentencing on charges of armed burglary and injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He ordered that Timu must serve at least three years eight months before he can be considered for parole.
The Crown said Timu had left the scene of the robbery – having found only some cannabis after raiding the wrong address – leaving the householder tied up on the floor, and with broken wrists and eye sockets.
Judge Garland said Timu went to the address in Cuffs Rd, Aranui, about 7pm on January 19, after being told there was methamphetamine and cash there. However, he made a mistake about the address he went to.
He picked up some pipe pliers he found at a neighbouring property and hit the victim over the head with the pliers, and continued to assault him as he lay on the floor.
He dragged him to the kitchen where he smashed him around the head with a glass baking dish, and choked him until he nearly blacked out.
The victim told him about some cannabis in the garage, to stop the beating.
Timu bound the man’s hands and feet with plastic binding tape and electrical cord from a fan. He then went out and got the cannabis before pouring bleach around the house and over the victim and leaving.
Garland increased the jail term for Timu’s record of violent offending, but reduced it for his guilty plea and his early acknowledgement to police that he was the home invader. A fight is brewing over the name of an iconic pub in Dunedin.
The Captain Cook Hotel reopened this year under Michael McLeod, but the publican soon found himself embroiled in a legal wrangle over naming rights.
The company connected to the previous tenant, Captain Cook Hotel Limited, was liquidated in the High Court at Dunedin on March 8.
The historic pub ceased trading in October 2017, just 19 months after a consortium of investors spent an undisclosed sum transforming the historic venue.
Only the former publican, Sheldon Lye, was listed as a director and shareholder of the company.
Documents show 10 creditors were owed money, including an estimated $210,000 to Inland Revenue.
The pub’s new operator, McLeod, said liquidator PWC tried to stop him from trading under the Captain Cook Hotel name, and charge him for the temporary liquor licence.
Compounding the matter was social media information connected to the former tenant, which meant some people wanting to book the reopened venue were referred to the old website, which lists an incorrect phone number, a different menu, and states the pub is closed.
A recent article about the reopened pub in Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine, KiaOra, also included the former tenant’s website.
A Facebook page connected with the former pub was removed yesterday morning.
McLeod said he did not buy the former business. He was operating on a temporary liquor licence organised with the Dunedin City Council, and had set up his own social media.
The building’s landlords had asked the previous tenant to remove their social media accounts and website, but the requests had been declined, McLeod said.
The situation had impacted his business, resulting in an estimated loss of $40,000, he said.
A liquidator for PWC told McLeod they did not have any information regarding the social media pages, and were not able to close those sites.
However, the liquidator took issue with McLeod’s Facebook page, The Captain Cook Hotel.
‘‘Please note this name is currently that of the company and as such, you must obtain permission from the liquidators to use this name,’’ the liquidator wrote in a letter to McLeod last month.