The second of two men who committed violent aggravated robberies in Christchurch in 2019 has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with no minimum period imposed. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The second of two men who committed violent aggravated robberies in Christchurch in 2019 has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with no minimum period imposed. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Nathan Finch Lewis was sentenced to 10 years in prison for multiple armed robberies and assaults.
Lewis, 52, was found guilty of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and assault with a weapon.
Judge Paul Kellar noted the significant trauma caused to the victims, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
After climbing a fence Nathan Lewis and a co-offender ran into a pub with balaclavas over their heads yelling “Give us your money, give us your money, where’s the safe?”
The pair then jumped over the bar and were handed a till drawer of money containing $958.
But that wasn’t enough. Lewis demanded the owner open the safe and when he learned it contained no money he began striking the victim repeatedly with a baseball bat.
“You struck the owner again hard in the forearm with the baseball bat, causing a cut and some bleeding,” Judge Paul Kellar said while sentencing him earlier this year for armed robbery and other violent offending.
Now the judge’s sentencing notes have been published, revealing the 52-year-old has been in and out of prison since 1990 for dishonesty offending, threats to kill, various driving matters, violence, drugs and aggravated robbery.
Judge Paul Kellar was persuaded by a narrow margin not to impose a minimum term or parole because Lewis had shown that there were times when he did not offend. Photo / Gregor Richardson, ODT.
The notes say he was only recently out of prison when he and his co-offender, who has name suppression, arrived at the Celtic Arms in Christchurch in a stolen vehicle on June 9, 2019.
It was about 10pm and the bar owner and a staff member were closing up.
CCTV footage showed Lewis, who was carrying a baseball bat and a co-offender carrying a knife, wearing balaclavas and sweatshirts with the hoods over their heads.
They climbed a fence and ran into the pub through an unlocked door, yelling for the money and location of the safe, before jumping the bar, taking money from the till and hitting the owner.
Judge Kellar said the owner’s bravery was apparent from the CCTV footage, which showed him throwing a large tip jar and a bottle of what looked like spirits at the pair, causing Lewis to run from the bar with the till drawer.
The Coke bottle that led to their undoing
Less than half an hour later the pair arrived at a KFC outlet and drove slowly to the back of the premises where the store manager was outside smoking.
The co-offender demanded to know how much money was in the safe and then threatened to ram the door if his requests went unanswered. The manager walked back inside followed by Lewis and his co-offender and got $523 from the safe.
Judge Kellar commended the woman for her presence of mind when confronted further, before showing them the tills were empty.
The pair then demanded the staff still on site hand over their wallets, but none of them did.
The co-offender then took a bottle of Coke from the fridge and the pair left.
“I mention the Coke bottle because, ultimately, that was your undoing,” Judge Kellar said.
Despite the pair’s disguise, and care in not leaving prints, DNA from inside the top of the Coke bottle led police to the offenders.
At 11.30 pm on the same night, the pair then drove in the stolen car to an address in Swannanoa, where the occupants were in bed.
Lewis and his co-offender broke in through a glass garage door and went into the kitchen, which alerted the male occupant who got up to find the co-offender rummaging through a handbag.
He was wearing a balaclava and asked for money but was told to leave.
He ran back to the vehicle outside, when Lewis, who was behind the wheel of the stolen car, drove at the victim, missed and struck his car instead. Lewis then got out of the car and struck the victim on the head with a weapon, knocking him to the ground.
He got up, but Lewis hit him again causing a cut above his eye and fractured ribs.
The victim was able to pull off one of the balaclavas before the two offenders got back into the car and left.
They separated soon after and the co-offender was caught soon afterwards.
Judge Kellar said it had been “particularly traumatic” for the victims of what was a home invasion. They continued to suffer significant anxiety and had each been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“In fact, it has gone so far for them that they have had to move out of their home where they were hoping to spend a peaceful retirement.
“They are simply too afraid to continue living there,” the judge said.
Before the courts
On August 10, 2019, Lewis was arrested and charged jointly with the co-offender who was convicted and sentenced to prison in November that year.
Lewis was found guilty by a jury of the aggravated robbery at the Celtic Arms, the aggravated robbery of the KFC near Christchurch Airport, the aggravated burglary of the Swannanoa premises, plus assault with a weapon and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He was found not guilty on a charge of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
Sentencing occurred earlier this year in the Christchurch District Court after Lewis had tried in the months following his arrest to claim he had been set up, and was not involved in the offending.
He provided a written statement that set out the circumstances in which he said the offending occurred.
Lewis then claimed in a letter that his co-offender had lied in his statement to police in July 2019.
He claimed he was not involved and that police had pressured the co-offender into naming him.
Lewis sought to have his original statement “deemed incorrect”.
He defended the charges against him, and argued he was “at home when the offences were committed”.
He defended the subsequent charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice on the basis that the co-offender set him up by getting him to prepare a letter purporting to be from him, absolving him from the offending.
From a starting point of 12 years in prison, Judge Kellar arrived at a 10-year sentence on the aggravated robbery and burglary charges with concurrent sentences of two years on the assault with a weapon and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Defence lawyer Philip Shamy, KC, urged the court not to impose any uplift for Lewis’ criminal history, which Judge Kellar said was right.
“One must be careful not to double-punish you,” he told Lewis.
Judge Kellar declined to impose a minimum period of imprisonment. He said the parole board was well-placed to assess the risks that Lewis posed to the community, and not imposing a minimum period would incentivise him to take steps to enhance his prospects of parole eligibility.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
