Nomads gang members sentenced after violent ‘taxing’ of South Taranaki homeowner

Five Nomads gang members appeared in court following a violent "taxing" of a homeowner in South Taranaki.

A carload of Nomads turned up at a man’s house and demanded he pay them “rent” for a property he had owned for at least five years.

When the homeowner objected, he was beaten by the gang members and left with a broken finger, bruising across his body and a missing tooth.

The “taxing”, a common undertaking in the gang where violence and threats are used to take property from members of the public, played out on February 17 this year, the New Plymouth District Court heard on Wednesday.

Patched Nomads members, Ruka Holden, Heremaia Taputoro, Chejzharn Ashford, Kody Maraki and Ratapu Wright-Macdonald, pulled into the victim’s driveway in Pātea, South Taranaki, around 2pm.

Wright-Macdonald got out of the car, knocked on the victim’s door and told him he wanted to have a chat.

The victim walked outside and acknowledged Holden, whom he recognised.

Holden then told the victim that he had not been paying rent and that he owed him money.

When the victim advised that he owned the property and did not have to pay rent, Holden became increasingly aggressive and louder, demanding that he pay up.

Wright-Macdonald approached the victim, as the other Nomads got out of the car, and told him “I am going into your house and taking whatever I want.”

They surrounded the man and, fearing for his safety, he struck out in an attempt to protect himself and his property.

At least four of the gang members proceeded to assault the victim by punching him several times, causing him to fall to the ground, where they continued to assault him.

Wright-Macdonald then walked into the victim’s house and stole a packet of tobacco and two sets of keys.

The men were sentenced in New Plymouth District Court on Wednesday. Photo / Tara Shaskey

The Nomads got back into their car and one yelled out “You had better not go to police or you will make it worse.”

In court, the five gang members appeared for sentencing, having all pleaded guilty to a charge of participation in an organised criminal group.

The public gallery was brimming with the men’s supporters, while Wright-Macdonald, Holden and Maraki packed themselves into the dock, and Ashford and Taputoro, who have been on bail, sat outside of the dock.

After Judge Quentin Hix adjourned Taputoro’s sentencing and readmitted him to bail, he continued with the sentencing of the remaining four men.

The judge said the victim did not know the offenders, except for recognising Holden, and that he did not owe them any money nor had he participated in any deals with the Nomads.

He had owned his home for around five years and described it as being his “little safe haven, a place where I can live peacefully away from the issues of the world.”

“They have ruined this for me,” he said in his victim impact statement to the court.

He now lives in fear of the gang and no longer feels safe in his home, he said.

The victim’s livelihood has been affected by the attack and he believed he would never have proper use of his hand again after his finger was severely damaged.

In sentencing the men, Judge Hix said the offending involved multiple attackers, premeditation, attacks to the head, gang activity, and it had a significant impact on the victim.

The judge took a start point of three years and eight months imprisonment before applying uplifts and various discounts to each offenders’ sentence, depending on their personal circumstances and their individual involvement in the offending.

Holden, who had a leadership role in the incident and previous convictions of a similar nature, was jailed for three years and one month.

Maraki had a lesser role in the offending but had similar previous convictions and was on post-release conditions from an earlier sentence at the time. He was jailed for two years and three months.

Ashford, who was young and had no previous convictions, reached an end sentence of 19 months’ imprisonment which was then converted to five months of home detention.

Wright-Macdonald, who was also young but had taken some of the victim’s property, was jailed for two years and granted leave to apply for home detention.

As Holden, Maraki and Wright-Macdonald were taken away to begin their jail sentences, they turned and delivered the public gallery middle finger salutes and gave a garbled gang cry, which was returned by the members of the public.

“Yeah New Zealand, we own jail,” one of the men yelled.

Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.