Goading over death spurs assault

A patched Nomad lashed out at a Mongrel Mob member behind bars over taunting about the death of his friend, a court has heard.

Ruka Hoani Holden was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court this week to three months and one week of home detention for assault with intent to injure and unlawful assembly.

The assault took place in Manawatu¯ Prison in March, when Holden and two others attacked the victim in an exercise yard.

One person started the attack before Holden, who punched, kicked and kneed the victim, joined in.

The victim got to his feet and went to a toilet block, where he was again attacked. Despite bleeding from the mouth, the victim refused medical treatment.

The unlawful assembly happened in Levin a month earlier when Holden was part of a group of Nomads associates or members in a fleet of cars.

They surrounded a group and one of the Nomads undertook a prolonged assault on one of those people.

Holden did not take part in the attack, but was armed with a hammer.

Defence lawyer Mark Alderdice said Holden had been taunted by the victim of the prison assault, who was prospecting for the Mongrel Mob, about the death of his friend Palmiro Macdonald.

Macdonald, also a patched Nomad, went missing in March 2016. His skeletal remains were found in rural Shannon in October.

Alderdice said Holden had moved away from Levin to escape Nomad life, although he was still patched.

‘‘Handing in a patch is not a simple process.’’

He had an offer of employment and self-referred to angermanagement counselling, Alderdice said.

Judge Stephanie Edwards said Holden knew the prison was monitored by CCTV cameras.

‘‘The fact you are going to get caught indicates a lack of selfcontrol.’’

But finding work, leaving Levin, going to anger management and only having one prior violence conviction swung the balance toward home detention, the judge said.