KEY POINTS:
The getaway driver in the robbery of Westpac's Ruatoria branch was jailed for 5-1/2 years today.
Popata Lawrence Taingahue, 25, was found guilty of the aggravated robbery of bank following a jury trial last month.
He stood expressionless in the dock as Judge Joanna Maze said she accepted crown submissions that a getaway driver was as culpable as the actual robber and adopted a starting point of six years' jail.
That was reduced by six months because his behaviour was "out of character".
The judge said evidence indicated that Taingahue was under some sort of influence from another person or persons to take part in the robbery.
"To reflect that - it is more an indication of mercy - a reduction of six month will occur."
She said the circumstances were unusual due to the fact that at the time of the robbery Taingahue had a job, was not a drug addict, almost got nothing out of this offending and appeared "not to have been the person who dreamt up the scheme".
During the trial the jury was told that on January 31, 2007, a masked person, clad in dark clothing, walked into the Ruatoria bank brandishing a firearm.
He pointed the gun at a female bank teller and demanded that she empty her cash drawer, and then the contents of another drawer, into his bag.
Once he received the cash, he ran out of the bank and jumped into a car, which immediately took off. The car was found abandoned later that day.
The cash and the masked man were never found.
- NZPA
