Adam Tipene jailed for five years and three months for multiple charges including stabbing a police dog. Photo / Kristin Edge
Adam Tipene jailed for five years and three months for multiple charges including stabbing a police dog. Photo / Kristin Edge
A Whangārei man fleeing from police at high speed "didn't give a toss about the danger to police or any other road user" and then only hours later stabbed a police dog in the head twice after breaking into a home where a couple slept.
It was a terrifying string of events in the early hours of December 22, 2018, that could have had a tragic finale.
The man responsible for the serious crimes 32-year-old Adam Tipene, of Onerahi, appeared in the Whangārei District Court for sentence by Judge John McDonald yesterday.Halfway through a jury trial earlier this year Tipene, a forestry worker, pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully using a motor vehicle, failing to stop, dangerous driving, aggravated assault (for using a car against a police officer), unlawfully interfering with a motorcycle, aggravated burglary using a knife, unlawfully wounding a police dog and resisting police.
Tipene was sentenced to five years and three months' jail, and will have to serve 60 per cent before being eligible for parole.
The drama began when Tipene was spotted driving a stolen car on Bank St in central Whangārei about 2am. Tipene had failed a drug test on his release from jail and knew there was a warrant out for his arrest. If he was caught he wouldn't be able to spend Christmas with his children and family.
"You didn't give a toss about the danger to police or any other road user who might have been out and about at that time," Judge McDonald said.
"You were hell-bent on getting away."
Constable Josh Van Der Kwaak with Caesar at graduation. Two weeks later, on their first night shift, Caesar was stabbed in the head. Photo / Supplied
Eventually Tipene crashed on a hairpin bend and fled into the bush. A search by police dog handler Constable Josh Van Der Kwaak and Caesar, who had qualified just two weeks before and were on their first night shift, failed to find Tipene.
But later that morning, Van Der Kwaak, and Sergeant Conan Brown, who had been involved in the pursuit, had finished their shift but took a long way home on the off chance they might spot Tipene.
It was then police got a 111 call from a petrified woman reporting a strange knife-wielding man in the house they were looking after on Owhiwa Rd, near Parua Bay.
Van Der Kwaak was nearby and quick to respond.
Tipene was on the roof of the house and failed to comply with Van Der Kwaak's orders so he put Caesar on the roof.
During the trial Van Der Kwaak told the jury how Tipene had been foaming at the mouth and had stabbed the newly qualified police dog in the head twice with a large kitchen knife.
He thought his Caesar was going to be bludgeoned to death.
Eventually Tipene was arrested with the help of the man at the house and Sergeant Brown, who arrived at the property.
Lawyer John Moroney said sadly Tipene was "another Northland story" of a man who had no education, had violence in the home, was expelled from school, was using cannabis and methamphetamine at the age of 12 and had a drug addiction.
Moroney said Tipene was on methamphetamine at the time of offending and his response was expected given his background.
"He did what he was programmed to do. He was on the meth, he was pursued by police and that's how he reacted. He took off and this is how we end up."
Crown prosecutor Mike Smith said Tipene had deliberately chosen his course of action.
"Car chases like this often kill people," Smith said.
"He was prepared to go through that course of action knowing full well the possibility and likely outcomes of his actions."
The terrifying incident could have stopped the canine duo in their tracks. But instead they bounced back and won the prestigious Erridge Cup, awarded to the New Zealand Police Dog Section's best rookie handler and dog in their first operational year of duty.
In their first year as a team in Northland, Caesar and Van Der Kwaak were dispatched to jobs 494 times.
They had 18 crime catches where, thanks purely to the skills of the handler and dog acting alone, they tracked and caught offenders who, without them, would not otherwise have been found.
A further 22 offenders were also apprehended and to top it off Van Der Kwaak also had 26 patrol catches, which were prepared for prosecution.
