Workers threatened with gun, hatchet
The man behind a weeks-long police manhunt has pleaded uilty to a string of aggravated robberies across Canterbury that left shop staff terrified.
Justin Wiremu Keremete, 50, was wanted by police in relation to a series of aggravated robberies across Canterbury during late March and early April.
The shops he targeted included a bank, a supermarket, a stationery shop and the Cashmere Club, stealing more than $12,000 cash in total.
Keremete appeared via audiovisual link before Judge Campbell Savage on Wednesday last week. He pleaded guilty to five aggravated robbery charges.
The string of robberies started on March 25 when Keremete made off with $1495 from stationery store Paper Tree in St Martins. He was armed with a small pistol and a hatchet.
At the time, the shop manager told Stuff Keremete casually walked into the store before telling staff to give him all the money from the till, or he would shoot them. He then fled on a bicycle.
Keremete also pleaded guilty to dishonestly taking an e-bike worth $11,500 the week earlier.
On March 29, Keremete stole NZ$2500 and A$2500 from the Travelex foreign exchange counter at Westfield Riccarton.
On April 8, Keremete walked into the Cashmere Club armed with a hatchet. Two bar workers said they were terrified when an armed robber threatened them with an axe and demanded they fill a bag with cash during a birthday party at the club.
The offender left emptyhanded.
For this, Keremete pleaded guilty to intending to commit a crime.
On the morning of April 9, he walked into the Metromart in Strowan armed with a gun and a hatchet and took $2700 cash, cigarettes and tobacco.
The crime spree continued on April 10 when Keremete entered Fresh Choice Merivale about 5.15pm and told staff he had a weapon. He demanded money from the till, and made off with $960 cash.
He also pleaded guilty to robbing ANZ Bank in Rangiora of about $2000 while armed with a firearm.
Keremete has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on July 25 in the Christchurch District Court.
Keremete’s offending dates back 25 years, when he was sentenced to six years in prison in 1998 for robbery, credit card fraud and a breach of parole.
In 2003, Keremete was given preventive detention after committing a six-month ‘‘crime spree’’ stretching as far south as Timaru, in which he robbed a bank, a pool hall, a bar and a video store, among others.
He also went to a couple’s home and asked to use their phone after claiming his father was having a heart attack, only to tie them up with rope and threaten them with a shotgun, suggesting that he would murder them.
Keremete pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.