Delayed sentencing for robber facing preventive detention

Convicted armed robber Laurence Minhinnick will have to wait another two weeks to find out whether he faces the prospect of an open-ended sentence of preventive detention.

Christchurch District Court judge Stephen Erber was to decide today if Minhinnick should be sent to the High Court for preventive detention to be considered.

The necessary two psychiatric reports have been ordered, but the hearing was not ready to proceed as planned, and the case was put off for another two weeks. Minhinnick remains in custody.

Minhinnick, 48, has been suggested for preventive detention by the Crown because of his criminal history.

He is awaiting sentence for the $220,000 hold-up of a security van at a supermarket in Christchurch's Moorhouse Avenue last September.

- NZPA