501 deportee and patched member of the Comanchero motorcycle gang, Donald Giles thanked the judge who sent him back to prison.
501 deportee and patched member of the Comanchero motorcycle gang, Donald Giles thanked the judge who sent him back to prison.
Gang member Donald Steven Giles is back behind bars after a life of violence that began in New Zealand, followed him to Australia and then back to New Zealand after he was deported as a 501 in 2012.
The 52-year-old thanked the judge for his understanding as he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison, after pulling out a pistol and threatening to kill a man during a lunchtime visit to a rural Nelson property last year.
Giles was also sentenced in the Nelson District Court on Friday for threatening another victim over a failed transaction [from which he felt he was owed $7500], plus weapons charges and failing to allow police access to his cellphone for a search.
“Thank you judge - thank you for your understanding,” the patched member of the Comanchero gang told Judge Garry Barkle, who substantially reduced his sentence after delving into his background.
The reduced sentence also acknowledged Giles’ recent efforts to kick a medically diagnosed methamphetamine and cannabis use disorder.
Judge Barkle said the disorder appeared to be in “sustained remission” and he hoped it was a sign that Giles had turned a corner away from a criminal history that now spanned 32 years and included 54 convictions in New Zealand and 18 in Australia.
Giles moved to Australia in 2005 when he falsely declared on his incoming passenger card that he had no criminal convictions, according to the Australian authority that declined his application for a review of a decision in 2011 to cancel his visa.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia outlined Giles’ history of offending which began with shoplifting in 1991 and led quickly to aggravated robbery, then violence and family violence, drugs offending and threatening to kill.
In Australia, Giles served prison sentences for “aggravated stalking” and violence charges, including violence against his pregnant partner, and breaching sentence terms.
Back in New Zealand, Giles crossed paths with a man in January last year who seven years before had been involved in a transaction that had not gone as planned.
The summary of facts said Giles felt the victim owed him $7500 from the “aborted escapade”, but the victim declined Giles’ offer to earn money working for him.
Giles then said if he didn’t pay he would “come to the victim’s house with 10 gang members” and uplift property.
Over the next few weeks, Giles sent the victim a string of threatening text messages and menacing voicemail messages threatening violence if he didn’t get the money. The victim was so afraid he remained away from his house whenever possible.
Then, at about 12.30pm on March 23 last year Giles went to a rural address on the Moutere Highway and found the second victim in a shed behind the house.
Judge Barkle said an aggravating feature was that he appeared to have no regard for the victim’s partner and son who were present when he turned up, and the level of planning that meant he had arrived with a firearm.
Comanchero gang member Donald Giles was sentenced in the Nelson District Court, where he thanked the judge for acknowledging the past that had helped to shape him. Photo / Tracy Neal
Giles confronted the victim over a perceived indiscretion against a female friend, then pulled out a pistol from the waistband in his trousers and suggested to the victim that they go for a walk.
When the victim refused, Giles pointed the gun at him, and a fight broke out.
Giles left but was later found by police and arrested when a knife was found hidden inside his trousers.
Judge Barkle acknowledged Giles’ conduct was linked to a childhood of “extreme parental violence” that had subjected him to abuse and neglect.
At age 13 he ran away and was placed in care, which led to further abuse, a diagnosis of complex PTSD and a lifestyle of “reckless risk-taking” and dysfunctional existence, pre-sentence reports said.
“It’s not a long bow to draw to see that your offending in this case was impacted by your upbringing,” Judge Barkle said.
From a starting point of four years and two months in prison, Giles was given a 40 per cent reduction for his early guilty pleas, plus the circumstances of his upbringing, deprivation and cultural issues.
He was then given a three-month uplift, which was cancelled out by a further three-month reduction for the time Giles had spent on electronic bail, to arrive at a sentence of two years and three months in prison with release conditions to be set by the parole board.
Giles, who was flanked in the dock by two security guards, expressed his gratitude to the judge as he was led away.
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.
