Shooter went to ‘crazy place’
A man continues to relive the day he was shot three times in a Southland town, a judge has said.
The offender, Manaia Michael Taki, was yesterday sentenced to three years’ prison for the shooting in Park St, Winton, on December 6, 2021.
Following an argument about parenting, Taki got a cut-down .22 rifle and fired it at least nine times, with two bullets hitting the victim in the back and one in the hand. One of the bullets came within one centimetre of his heart.
Having earlier admitted a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, Taki was sentenced by Justice Rob Osborne when appearing in the High Court at Invercargill yesterday.
Justice Osborne said the victim spent more than two weeks in hospital and could not return to work for three months. He still struggled to use his hand and the muscles in his back did not function as they used to.
‘‘He continues to relive the day he was shot.’’
Taki had told police he had gone to his ‘‘crazy place’’ when shooting the man, Osborne said.
‘‘You said when it looked like the victim bent down to pick up a brick to throw at you, you went to your crazy place and shot the victim.’’
His actions were highly reckless and dangerous and disproportionate to the domestic argument which took place, the justice said.
Taki was 19 at the time and had no previous convictions. He had experienced ‘‘significant disadvantage’’ in his upbringing and had moved from the North Island to Southland to avoid the gang lifestyle. He was employed in Winton at the time of the shooting.
The summary of facts says there was a confrontation about parenting between a group of people in a house on Park St.
The victim challenged Taki to a fight, before Taki went and got a cut down .22 semi-automatic rifle from his car.
He fired two or three rounds in the air, got in his car and did some skids before he drove back to the house.
Taki and the victim exchanged further heated words, and both challenged the other to approach them before Taki fired between four and eights shots in the victim’s direction from about five to eight metres, the summary says.
The first shot hit the victim in the hand which he said he was holding up in front of his chest.
The victim turned to run and was shot twice in the back. As he continued to run further shots were fired, hitting a car and the house, the summary says.
Taki took off in his car to Invercargill, hiding the firearm at an associate’s house and the car just out of town.
One round came within a centimetre of the victim’s heart, although none of the rounds penetrated the chest cavity or abdomen and because of this they were not fatal, the summary says.
‘‘He continues to relive the day he was shot.’’
Justice Rob Osborne