Last month, two men connected to the Mongrel Mob were jailed over the brutal killing of Christchurch man Brendon Ross.
Juan Marsh and Curtis Wealleans had never met until the night they fatally beat Ross in his own home and left him to die.
Both Marsh, 59, and Curtis, 25, admitted killing Ross but denied charges of murder.
After a trial in the High Court at Christchurch spanning several weeks, Marsh was found guilty of murder.
Wealleans was found guilty on the lesser alternative charge of manslaughter.
At sentencing, Justice Gerard Nation delved into the backgrounds of both men and revealed their personal connections to the Mongrel Mob and what put them in each other's paths that terrifying, violent night.
Senior journalist Anna Leask attended the sentencing and can now report on the background of the two men - the old patch and the new.
Brendon Ross was in his pyjamas when he opened the door of his flat on March 4, 2019.
He wasn't expecting anyone and assumed it was a mate or neighbour when he heard the knocking.
He never could have imagined that minutes after he turned the handle he would be mortally wounded, left for dead by two strangers.
Just after 10pm, Marsh and Wealleans confronted Ross.
Marsh was armed with a knife and Wealleans had a hammer.
Ross didn't stand a chance - the wild pair took to him, stabbing and striking him repeatedly and then scarpering into the night.
It would emerge in court that the attack came after Ross had a relationship with another resident at the Kainga Ora housing complex where he lived.
He and Kim Fisher had a brief connection and when it ended they "developed an intense dislike for each other" with frequent nasty arguments and police being called regularly over the increasing acrimony.
Fisher told her mate Marsh that Ross was threatening and abusing her and things were getting worse.
Two days before the murder, Marsh was at the Riccarton Rd complex and someone deliberately scratched his vehicle.
He was enraged and immediately blamed Ross and his friend.
He decided he would "punish them" and started to form his deadly plan.
"Karma is coming round with bark and bite," he told Fisher in a text message.
"This will be all over before you know it."
That's where the Mongrel Mob come into the story.
Marsh's cousin is a man named Raihania "Ra" King - a senior member of the Mongrel Mob Aotearoa chapter in Christchurch.
King lives at the gang's pad on Maces Rd in Bromley and, at the time of the murder, Wealleans was residing in a sleepout at the infamous property.
The court heard Marsh planned to visit Ross and attack him, and that he asked King to help him with someone to act as backup on the night.
Just before 8.30pm on the night of the killing, Marsh went to Maces Rd and soon after left for Ross' place with Wealleans in his car.
Fisher confirmed to the men what number unit Ross lived in, and they carried out their shocking attack.
Wealleans hit Ross on the head with the hammer.
Marsh then stabbed the victim repeatedly, one blow severing his carotid artery and causing "massive and fatal" bleeding.
A post mortem examination later confirmed Ross suffered two substantial wounds to his body.
"One of these penetrated his body just under his ribcage and punctured his liver," the court heard.
"It was 11 to 13 cm deep. There were at least 25 cuts on his face, neck, torso, arms and hands.
"He suffered blunt force trauma to his head and back. These were consistent with the blows from a hammer.
"The blow to the back resulted in two broken ribs.
"Mr Ross had 11 cuts to his hand, consistent with his having tried to protect himself in some way while being attacked with a knife."
After the murder, after he dropped Wealleans back at the sleepout, after he had dumped his weapon and bloodied clothing - Marsh sent a message to King via Facebook.
"Seig, cuzzy. Done. Hail Curtis R Dog," he wrote.
Justice Nation would later confirm this "was Mongrel Mob language" and Marsh was "recognising the assistance" he had from Wealleans.
Wealleans, too, sent a message about the brutal act, texting his partner: "I might have killed someone last night, I'm not lying, I'm not kidding ... delete this message now."
Within days the men were arrested and both charged with murder.
Case illustrates how destructive gangs can be - judge
Fast forward to July 2021.
Marsh and Wealleans were in the dock on the first day of their trial.
Wealleans' lawyer Craig Ruane it was "not a gang trial" nor was it "a mob hit" but and the "involvement of the Mongrel Mob is peripheral" to the facts.
It had been determined earlier that the Crown would be able to introduce the links of both men to the Mongrel Mob as part of its case - it was deemed important and contextual.
And at sentencing, Justice Nation delved further into that context.
"This case well illustrates just how destructive involvement with a gang like the Mongrel Mob can be," he said.
"It is a calamity, firstly, for someone who becomes the victim of extreme violence as Mr Ross was but also for those who perpetrate violence."
Justice Nation told the court for the first time that Marsh had been a patched member of the Mongrel Mob in his younger years but had managed to leave the gang in his mid-20s and live a crime-free life.
"You were not caught up in any gang conflict," he said.
"You had no convictions for any offence of violence since you were convicted for assault in 1981 and 1982 ... your last conviction had been in 2011 for careless driving."
Marsh held "a good job" as a truck driver for the five years leading up to the murder and was respected and valued by his employer.
His gang life began in his teens after an "unhappy childhood".
Marsh, also known as Joseph Mahi, was placed for adoption with an aunt and uncle until he was 10.
Justice Nation said there, he was treated badly, he misbehaved and was "disciplined physically for things like not going to school and running away from home".
"At age 12, you were told the truth about your parents and chose to move back with them, but this did not go well and you were made to feel unwelcome in your family," he said.
"You did not fit in."
Marsh told a probation officer tasked with writing a pre-sentence report that his biological parents had "structure and stability" and his siblings were "goodies".
"You and other siblings were raised in a loving a protective home."
However, Marsh couldn't go straight and in his teens he repeatedly got in trouble and ended up in a boys' home.
"Until, when you were about 15, you began associating with the Mongrel Mob in Napier," said Justice Nation.
The next decade was punctuated by more trouble, drugs and the gang and Marsh was sent to prison in his mid-20s.
There, behind bars, he realised he needed to leave the gang and the family who had been a factor in his offending up to that point.
Leaving the gang world behind - Marsh moves south
When he got out of prison, Marsh moved to Christchurch and has remained in the city since.
"You entered into a relationship, took on a father role with her two children, found work as a truck driver and said you never returned to the Mongrel Mob," said Justice Nation.
"You had made the break from the Mongrel Mob and the associations that had been a significant factor in your earlier offending."
He said Marsh's personal circumstances were "significantly different" than most who grew up in a "difficult and damaging family situation" the then "found refuge in becoming part of a gang" and offended under the influence of that criminal culture.
"You were able many years ago to break away from that culture, even if you did retain some contact with people in the Mongrel Mob," said the judge.
"You realised that the gang environment was damaging for you.
"But, in March 2020, you decided to use such gang contacts as you did have to assist in brutally attacking Mr Ross.
"It was your choice to do that.
"You had the experience, maturity and knowledge to know it was the wrong thing to do. No one was compelling you to make the choices you did, which led to you killing someone."
Justice Nation said Marsh's anger at his car being damaged was understandable.
But his actions after were anything but and he said the gang had let Marsh down by effectively enabling the crime.
"Anyone with any sense and concern for you would have known that, if you were to stab someone because of what they had done, you would be one of the biggest losers," said Justice Nation.
"They would have told you not to do anything stupid.
"The senior member of the Mongrel Mob you had contact with gave you no such advice. Instead, he obviously arranged for you to have the support of Mr Wealleans in what it was that you planned to do."
Sadly, the experiences of Marsh's younger years would have been a huge factor in how he responded to the damage to his car.
"As your counsel put it, you have successfully struggled against the negative influences dictated by your upbringing," said Justice Nation.
"Nevertheless ... those problems had not entirely gone away and could be linked to provide the impetus towards your present offending."
Curtis Wealleans - young wannabe to killer gangster
Marsh's time as a full-time gang member had finished before his co-offender was even born.
Wealleans was just 23 that fateful day he met Marsh.
He was known to police, he had convictions for aggravated robbery in 2013, male assaults female in 2016, assault and injuring with intent to injure in 2000.
A raft of other convictions including dishonesty, common assault and injuring with intent to injure fill out the rest of Wealleans' criminal history.
The Crown told the jury that when Marsh sought help from King to carry out the attack on Ross, the senior gang member told Wealleans to go along.
It was suggested that he wanted to impress the gang, to prove his commitment, to earn his place.
Had that instruction not been received - Wealleans would likely never have been involved in the killing.
"You would not be here if a more senior person with the gang had recognised how you would be one of the big losers," Justice Nation said.
"The senior Mongrel Mob member, at whose place you were living, should have cared enough about you to have made sure you did not get involved in someone else's argument that had nothing to do with you, even as a gang member.
"You did not have the benefit of that support."
During the trial, Wealleans was clean-shaven and fresh-faced.
But by the time he was sentenced his skin bore a tattoo reflecting his membership - or at least close association and dedication - to the Mongrel Mob.
The path to the Mongrel Mob - from teen troubles to gang man
His path to gang life was outlined by Justice Nation.
"You had a troubled start to your life," he stated.
"When at primary school, you and your brother suffered at the hands of a whānau friend.
"Connected with that, you and your brother witnessed an uncle hitting this person on the head with a hammer by way of retribution.
"Through this experience, a criminal and destructive way for someone to exact retribution or revenge was demonstrated to you - just as you ended up helping Mr Marsh inflict injuries on Mr Ross."
Justice Nation said Wealleans struggled at primary school.
He attended "numerous" schools because he was repeatedly "kicked out for bad behaviour".
He left high school at the end of Year 9 as a result of constant fighting and violence.
In his teens, Wealleans began using drugs and alcohol.
But while he made choices that he told a probation officer put him on a "rocky road" he acknowledged there were "good examples" in his life he could have followed.
From the age of 6 months old Wealleans was raised by his grandmother - who was said to be disappointed in his criminal trajectory.
The woman and her husband were big on whānau and did their best to care for all of their grandchildren.
She supported Wealleans through his turbulent childhood and arranged for him to go to a full-immersion te reo Māori school in a bid to help him engage with his culture and improve his life.
"After you had to leave your high school, your koru took you home and attempted to home-school you, although you found this hard," said Justice Nation.
"Your grandmother had gifted you a tā moko after a birthday a few years ago. That tā moko signified your whānau and whakapapa."
However several years ago a gang patch was tattooed over that tā moko.
A Māori lawyer with a double major in psychology in Māori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Canterbury prepared a pre-sentence report for the court about Wealleans and said he was "taken aback by the horrific image of what he saw".
He told the court he had "never seen such a thing".
"You told him that you did not know the cultural and spiritual impact that having a gang patch tattooed over your tā moko had," said Justice Nation.
"Within days of your being found guilty of manslaughter, at prison, you had the word "Aotearoa" tattooed in large lettering across your face.
"You told (the lawyer) you were forced to submit to this because you wanted to leave the Mongrel Mob.
"I am somewhat sceptical that you were forced to submit to this tattooing."
The court heard that while in prison awaiting trial Wealleans was recorded telling someone he was contemplating having a gang tattoo put on his face.
"The person you talked to urged you earnestly not to do that because of the way that would impact on you for the rest of your life," said Justice Nation
"But, you are now, at present, forced to live with what you have done."
He said Wealleans made the choice to get involved with the murder of Ross and could have refused.
"You knew what you were doing. You had the maturity to make the proper choice," he said.
"You did not do so.
"I consider ... it was your gang association and your loyalty to the values of the Mongrel Mob that was ultimately the reason for your involvement in the offending."
Justice Nation said while Wealleans may have wanted to impress the gang, he suspected the young killer was not proud of his actions and knew what he did was "senseless".
He said that was evident when Wealleans was first interviewed by police.
The younger offender was "torn" about what he should say to detectives and was recorded saying: "Look, I don't know. I don't know what to f**cking say. I'm a f**cking, I'm a gang member.
"Meant to be, f**cking hell. I'm a father, I shouldn't even be here. I should have just f**cking moved back up north."
Justice Nation said Wealleans' pre-sentence report painted a picture of a young man who, despite his situation, had "dreams, hopes, goals and aspirations for the future".
He said it was clear Wealleans knew he had let down his children, his wider family and himself.
"You made statements to the police that indicated that you realised, through being in the gang, you were not leading a life as you wanted to," the judge said.
"You had expressed remorse for your offending and had displayed insight as to the impact your actions had on Mr Ross's family and
friends.
"You know how your involvement with the Mongrel Mob has left you responsible for the death of a man and the suffering caused to his family and friend - and to you being in prison for a number of years when you will not be available to support your children.
Justice Nation said Wealleans was someone who'd had "dreams, hopes, goals and aspirations for the future to be a better person".
"A person with a desire to make a better future for yourself and your children," he said.
"The circumstances of this offending and the information in the pre-sentence report tells me that, if you remain subject to the pressures and influence of the Mongrel Mob, your risk of causing harm to others is high."
Justice Nation said the link to the gang for both offenders was clear and fatal.
Had Marsh never been patched, had Wealleans not been striving for that, had they not connected through Ra King - Brendon Ross would likely still be alive and his family would not be heartbroken, grieving and destroyed.
"So, Mr Marsh and Mr Wealleans, your association with the Mongrel Mob has had tragic consequences for each of you," said Justice Nation.
"But, I need to recognise that the most tragic consequences have been for Brendon Ross, a father of four children, a partner, a brother, cousin and a friend.
"Brendon Ross was killed as a result of a senseless act of violence out of all proportion to any sense of grievance you, Mr Marsh, had over the scratching of your vehicle."
Justice Nation sentenced Marsh to life in prison - the automatic starting sentence for someone convicted of murder - with a minimum non-parole period of 13-and-a-half years.
He sentenced Wealleans to nine-and-a half years in prison for his part in the killing but did not impose a minimum term of imprisonment on account of Wealleans' troubled and abusive childhood. Further, he wanted to give the offender a realistic chance of getting away from the gang and keeping him in prison for a set time would not help with that.
