Mobster handed life sentence for bashing

A man beaten over drugs in his own home was attacked so brutally the noise from the fatal blows could be heard from the street.

Now, the Mongrel Mob member who killed Meihana Mason has been jailed for life.

Isaiah Natana and Te Whiu Apanui stood trial in the High Court at Hamilton last year defending charges of murder, injuring with intent to injure, and aggravated robbery.

Natana was found guilty of murder, along with the remaining charges, while Apanui was found guilty of aggravated robbery.

On Thursday, Natana, 30, and Apanui, 27, returned to the High Court for sentencing before Justice Rebecca Ellis.

Ta¯neatua, in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, is known as a Mongrel Mob town and on February 14, 2022, Apanui received his gang patch.

Together with others, including Natana, they celebrated with drinks and drugs.

The party continued into the next day.

The pair, with others, then drove to Mason’s home to get some methamphetamine from either him or a female known to Mason.

In her summation of the case, Justice Ellis said it was likely Mason didn’t want to “tick” Natana the drugs, but whatever was said, it was enough to send Natana into a fury and he began inflicting a series of savage blows on the 57-year-old, who had been on dialysis for nearly 20 years.

The noise from the blows was so loud it could be heard on the street outside.

Mason’s daughter, Katie Kinghazel, told the defendants their actions that day were “unforgettable and something you will have to live with for the rest of your life”.

In her victim impact statement, she described her father as a “kind, humble, loving man who was very witty and funny at the same time”.

He was someone she confided in and she was still struggling to come to terms with his death.

Natana’s counsel Caitlin Gentleman accepted her client did not have any background issues, and didn’t qualify for credit for remorse as he still denied the offending.

But she said before the murder, he only had a common assault conviction to his name.

Along with a previous good character discount, she submitted he also deserved credit for the 19 months he spent on electronically monitored bail.

Steve Franklin, on behalf of Apanui’s counsel Rebekah Webby, urged Justice Ellis to adopt the pre-sentence report recommendation of home detention.

Apanui was remorseful, it was submitted.

Franklin pushed for a discount for his client’s background, which saw him drinking and doing drugs at a young age, and joining a gang to find a “sense of belonging”.

Justice Ellis took a starting point of two years and nine months when sentencing Apanui.

She then applied various discounts before coming to an end term of 11 months’ home detention.

Apanui was also ordered to pay his share of the reparation for the motorbike of $1650.

Justice Ellis said while Natana still denied the offending, “the evidence against you was compelling”.

She described his attack on Mason, who was twice his age and did not fight back, as “callous and brutal”.

“You were, in my view, the ringleader,” she told him.

After applying a one-year discount, she jailed Natana for life, with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years.