Man found guilty of robbing car from childhood friend

A man has been found guilty of robbing a childhood friend of a car, disbelieving his story that he was able to borrow the car.

Trevor Patrick Lamb, 36, was found guilty in the Palmerston North District Court of robbing Stephen Rauhihi in Foxton on March 30.

The trial heard Lamb and Rauhihi had known each other at least 30 years.

The facts were largely agreed between prosecution and defence.

Rauhihi got home from rugby practice about 8.30pm, having used an associate’s car to get there.

Lamb came out from Rauhihi’s house, jumped in the car, punched him in the face and said he needed to get out of town. He also asked Rauhihi not to call police.

Rauhihi drove him for a while before pulling into a rest area near the Mobil service station on State Highway 1, at which point he got out of the car and ran.

Lamb, seeing the keys were still in the ignition, hopped in the driver’s seat and took off.

The big differences between prosecution and defence were the dialogue in the car and Lamb’s demeanour.

Rauhihi said Lamb was angry, controlling and demanding.

He became emotional while giving evidence, saying he was thankful his children were not with him, as was planned that night, when Lamb turned up.

‘‘I knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He would have given it to me, given me a hiding.’’

He ran from the car because he feared for his life, he said.

But Lamb had a different version of events.

He said he punched Rauhihi because he swore at him, then told him not to call police because the punch was assault.

He asked Rauhihi to let him borrow the car or drive him out of town, but got nowhere.

Lamb said he talked about times Rauhihi had taken his car without asking, once leaving it abandoned after it ran out of fuel.

He took Rauhihi running off as a signal he could use the car, describing the situation as ‘‘perfect’’.

Lamb was remanded in custody until March for sentencing, and given a warning under the threestrikes legislation.