Former pro rugby hopeful turned meth user jailed for Hastings robbery

The Napier courthouse, where Jordan Stratton-Pineaha was sentenced to jail for robbery.

A once professional rugby hopeful who succumbed to the grip of methamphetamine in a chronic fall from grace as he battled injury and other issues has been sentenced to
five years and two months' jail for an aggravated robbery in Hastings.

From Omahu and now aged 22, Jordan Stratton-Pineaha was once touted by Waikato-based Super Rugby franchise Chiefs. He was remorseful, promising he'd turned the corner as he appeared before Judge Geoff Rea in Napier District Court on Friday.

Having pleaded guilty after a sentencing hearing in September, and admitting he and an unknown co-offender had robbed a man after barging into his sleepout on the night of March 26, Stratton-Pineaha's remorse was obvious, the judge accepted.

He let the young man address the court, in both Māori and English, with his own pepeha and description of the impact of methamphetamine, and how it had come to a choice between his use of the drugs, or his place in the family.

"My mother could see the changes, but I was in denial," he said.

Defence counsel Jonathan Krebs said Stratton-Pineaha was in court a different man than the one he had first encountered a few months ago.

According to a summary, Stratton-Pineaha and his associate went to the complainant's address in Mahora, Hastings, about 11pm.

The man was asleep at the time, but awoke to a knock at the door. He opened it and the pair burst in uninvited.

Stratton-Pineaha wore a black leather Mongrel Mob vest, a black hoodie, and a red bandanna around his neck. His associate also wore a black hoodie and had a red bandanna covering his face.

Stratton-Pineaha said he was there to take some of the complainant's property because the man was taking the intruder's father to court, and then brandished a knife as he yelled at the man: "Try going to the police about this or try to stop me and I'll cut you."

He then took the man's laptop computer and cellphone from the bedroom, while the associate took a set of keys and a wallet from the kitchen as the pair left.

The man went to a neighbour's address to notify police, and then found a spare car key to drive to the Hastings station, fearing the intruders would return. Stratton-Pineaha was arrested the next day.

Judge Rea said Stratton-Pineaha realised his association with methamphetamine and the type of people from whom it was bought meant he was doing things he would not have thought of doing only six months previously.

The Judge said having heard and read further material, he was reducing the penalty from what had been indicated, but was still bound by guidelines to send him to jail.