Woman feared death in car park

A 50-year-old woman feared she was going to die when a trio she considered friends got into her car before abusing, assaulting and robbing her.

Haumairangi Kerehoma, Tira Ware Ryder and Tiaki Kerehoma were all sentenced in the Levin District Court on Tuesday to theft, demanding with menace and assault with a weapon.

The Kerehomas must both serve 22 months’ prison, while Ryder will do six months’ community detention and 12 months’ intensive supervision.

The trio were initially charged with aggravated robbery, but pleaded guilty to the three lesser charges after getting a sentence indication.

The crimes took place in August when Ryder went to meet a woman in the Levin New World car park at 5pm, with the pair earlier agreeing to meet to settle a debt.

Ryder got into the front passenger’s seat of the woman’s car, with the Kerehomas, who are brothers, arriving soon after and also getting in.

The Kerehomas verbally abused her and threatened her with violence, with Haumairangi Kerehoma hitting her in the back of the head, pulling her hair and choking her.

Ryder told the woman to hand over what the Kerehomas asked for.

Tiaki Kerehoma emptied the woman’s purse and took her groceries, while telling her he would stab her and burn down her house if she called police. Ryder said sorry for what happened before leaving in her own car.

Judge Lance Rowe read from the woman’s victim impact statement, in which she wrote how she considered the trio her friends.

She thought she was going to die during the theft. ‘‘I’m only a little person and I wasn’t doing anything wrong.’’

The judge said it was the threats made to the woman, who was scared to go out of the house afterwards, which arguably had the biggest impact.

‘‘Whichever way you look at it, this was very cowardly, bullying behaviour.

‘‘There is no mana in this behaviour.’’

Reports prepared for the Kerehomas before sentencing showed they spent their childhoods surrounded by deprivation, cultural alienation and violence.

Tiaki Kerehoma’s lawyer Paul Knowsley said that background was not a blank cheque to offend, but helped explain how people like the Kerehomas ended up living the lives they did.

Tiaki Kerehoma emptied the woman’s purse and took her groceries, while telling her he would stab her and burn down her house if she called police.