The 27-year-old with long-standing family connections to the Black Power was sentenced on possession of firearms, cannabis and ammunition.
A man born into a family of gang members has been spared a prison sentence after he proved to the court, that it is possible to avoid gang life by staying employed.
Santos Fenton, 27, was charged in April after police searched his home in Otāngarei and found 57 grams of cannabis, a sawn-off shotgun and 14 rounds of ammunition.
Fenton is a member of the Fenton family notoriously linked to Black Power Whangārei and the son of convicted murderer, Nathan Fenton.
Nathan Fenton was recently before the parole board for the 2007 murder of Mairina Dunn, 17.
In court this week, Santos Fenton’s lawyer Jarred Scott fought to keep his client out of prison.
Scott said his client was holding the cannabis for someone else and he had the shotgun to protect himself and his family.
“My client has been employed for three years full-time in a job that requires him to travel around the region. If he gets a sentence of imprisonment or home detention, he will lose his job,” Scott submitted.
Judge Deidre Orchard questioned what Fenton had done to get out of the gangs to which police prosecutor Stu Wilkes responded with detail.
“With all due respect Ma’am, the Fenton family is generational within the Black Power – It’s not as if Mr Fenton has all of a sudden just gone out there and joined a gang - that is a fact.
“The pathway for Mr Fenton out of the court and out of the gangs is by employment,” Wilkes said.
Wilkes submitted that despite Fenton’s upbringing he had very low-level offending - driving and graffiti - and had largely avoided the courts.
Judge Orchard said given Fenton’s upbringing she was surprised he had not accumulated more of a criminal history.
“Your criminal history shows a young man who has done better than many might have in terms of avoiding criminal acts coming from your circumstances.
“You have gang connections and that troubles me. There is an increasing tendency for gangs to use guns in their activity including drive-bys and warfare. This is very serious offending.
“You are in hot water as far as sentencing is concerned and at risk of going to prison,” Judge Orchard said.
“I accept you have a starting life that may have led to offending, family long-time connections to the Black Power.
“You’re well thought of by your employer, you’re working. I think you deserve recognition of the fact you have tried through your relatively young life to avoid coming closely involved in gangs even though there is obvious connections there. It’s not one you have gone out to find,” Judge Orchard said.
Judge Orchard stepped back from imprisonment and home detention and sentenced Fenton to four months of community detention, 100 hours of community work and nine months of supervision with some final words: “You’re a young man who’s got some promise, I hope you don’t throw it away.”
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
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