Pokies winner dealt a cruel hand

A man who robbed a homeless man of $2000 – after he had just won that money in a pokies jackpot – has been jailed for 19 months.

Gordon Hamish Forbes, 28, was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on Monday, after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of aggravated robbery.

Forbes’ victim had been playing the pokies in the Riv Bar in Hamilton East on Thursday, June 28 last year when he won the jackpot on one of the machines.

He went up to the counter to get his winnings, which totalled $2039.30.

It was at that moment that Forbes and his co-offender Kelly Meikura Michelle Potae, 39, walked into the bar, just in time to hear the victim ask the barman to call him a taxi.

Forbes approached the pokies winner and offered him a ride into the city for $20. The victim, thinking he was being done a good turn, accepted.

Forbes, Potae and the victim left the bar and hopped into Potae’s car.

But instead of taking the man to central Hamilton, they turned onto Grey St, and then Cook St and then onto Firth St, stopping outside Sacred Heart Girls’ College.

Forbes reached around to where his victim was sitting in the back seat and grabbed some of his cash winnings from out of his right pocket.

The victim immediately got out of the car in a bid to get away from his assailants, but Forbes gave chase and taking hold of him, grabbed more money out of the victim’s pocket.

Potae also got out of the car and also started to take money from the victim’s pocket, as well as cash that had fallen on the ground.

The victim, meanwhile, was attempting to fight off his attackers and was yelling for help from nearby residents who had come out onto the street to see what was the cause of the ruckus. After they had grabbed all of the victim’s money, Forbes and Potae got back in the car – but their victim was not done fighting back.

In a bid to stop the pair from fleeing he attempted to grab Forbes through an open passenger window. There was a struggle, but Forbes was able to break free, get back in the car and take off.

Eventually, on July 8, Forbes and Potae were stopped in their car while driving on Clyde St and were arrested and charged with aggravated robbery.

Potae had already pleaded guilty and had been sentenced to four months of home detention by the time Forbes appeared for his sentencing on Monday.

Judge Denise Clark had the benefit of a victim impact statement, which laid bare the extent of his misfortune. At the time he was robbed he had been living on the street.

‘‘This was for him a huge amount of money.’’

While Forbes had no violence in his background, he did have convictions for dishonesty offences and the June 28 incident presented an escalation in the gravity of his misdeeds.

While Forbes had attempted to lay blame on the victim in a pre-sentence interview, he had since tendered a letter of remorse to the court through his counsel Jess Tarrant, and his father had also submitted a letter stating he would do his best to make sure his son stayed out of trouble in future.