Whangārei criminal who targeted two dairies in one day gets jail sentence

Whangārei's Daffodil Dairy was robbed by Eden Wetere last year. He's been jailed for that robbery and a dairy burglary.

High on methamphetamine and wanting cash, a man targeted two dairies on the same day – attacking the owner of one with a metal bar, Whangarei District Court has heard.

Eden Wetere, 32, was jailed for three years, 10 months, and given a three-strike warning when he appeared for sentence by Judge Taryn Bayley this week. He pleaded guilty to burglary of the first dairy and to aggravated robbery of the second.

Wetere used a shopping trolley to block the doorway of a backroom, keeping a staff member at bay, but was not violent when he burgled Raumaunga's Otaika Dairy about 10am on December 5, last year. The owner activated a fog cannon as Wetere fled with $450 to a waiting vehicle.

Wetere went home, changed his clothes, and tried to cover the tattoos on his leg before going at 1pm to the Daffodil Dairy on Maunu Rd, where he tried to kick a back door in.

Such was the force Wetere used, items inside the store started falling off shelves.

The shop owner armed himself with an iron bar and yelled at Wetere to stop but Wetere came in through the front door, got past wire security fencing around the counter, and ended up in a violent struggle with the owner.

Wetere overpowered him, grabbing the iron bar off him and hitting him about the head with it numerous times, causing serious lacerations that later required stitching.

The shopkeeper gestured to an open cigarette cabinet then managed to escape to safety.

Wetere yelled "where's the money?" then fled on foot with $250 worth of cigarettes.

He was arrested at home the next day, police finding an iron bar and blood-stained clothing stashed in bushes.

The Crown said the aggravated robbery offending sat squarely with a five-and-a-half-year prison term established as a sentence starting point for a particular band of a relevant tariff case.

But Counsel David Sayes said a lesser starting point of four years, nine months, was justified.

The offence escalated beyond what Wetere intended, which was only to steal money without violence – as he had done in the first burglary that day.

The judge imposed the higher starting point but accepted Sayes' submission an uplift for the burglary charge did not need to be as high as the 12 months sought by the Crown and imposed one of six months.

She imposed a further six months' uplift for Wetere's relevant criminal history, which included convictions for burglaries and assault with a weapon.

Discounts the judge gave for mitigating factors totalled 40 per cent - 25 per cent for Wetere's guilty pleas and 15 per cent for his remorse and matters traversed in a cultural report.

The judge accepted Sayes' submissions the report showed a nexus between Wetere's offending and his background, including a brain injury he suffered as a result of repeated assaults and trauma earlier in life.

Although Wetere's use of methamphetamine did not mitigate his offending that day, the judge acknowledged his long-term dependency on drugs and alcohol.

The victim of the aggravated robbery said he was suffering financially as his injuries prevented him from continuing to work at the store and he could not face it anyway.

The victim of the burglary said he had sleepless nights and worried about leaving his family alone to look after the store. He never previously thought such a thing would happen to him.

The victims declined to meet Wetere at restorative justice. Wetere, who is illiterate so could not write a remorse letter, instead spoke to the court directly via AV-link from a prison unit where he has been on remand.

He said: "Um yeah, I've um, I just want to say sorry to you my victims and my young family for my bad actions. I have woken up and time away from my children is killing me. I'm deeply remorseful. This will never happen again."