Initially, Gourley was hesitant to meet the group due to rumours he was responsible for a recent shooting of one of the associates.
The woman lied, saying she didn’t know anything about that and reassured him she hadn’t seen her boyfriend recently.
As it turned out, his unease was warranted.
At the car park, Daveron got out of the car, opened the victim’s rear passenger door and fired three bullets at him.
While one went over his head, the others hit his back and torso.
Crown prosecutor Amanda Jane Brosnan submitted in the High Court at Wellington that a starting point of 12 years’ imprisonment was appropriate due to the serious nature of the offending.
She said it was premeditated and involved the use of a firearm. It had caused serious injury and although Gourley has made a full recovery, he had to undergo emergency surgery and spent three weeks in hospital.
Brosnan said Daveron did not know his victim, had no grievance with him and had acted on instructions from the associate.
“It has the characteristics of a hitman-style shooting,” she said.
‘Appalling background’
But Daveron’s lawyer Steve Gill rejected the Crown’s characterisation, saying there was no suggestion his client had been paid for the shooting and he had not masterminded it.
He sought a starting point of 10 years’ imprisonment and pointed to Daveron’s “appalling background” he suffered as a child, documented in reports provided to the court.
Gill said Daveron’s family life was unstable, violent and dysfunctional. He also had a serious methamphetamine addiction and although he had not smoked the drug on the day of the incident, it was an ongoing problem for him.
Justice Grice said the reports showed addiction was a driver in Daveron’s offending.
She noted he had used drugs since he was 11 years old and had gone on to rob houses to feed his addiction. His father died when Daveron was young and his mother struggled to raise five children and food was often scarce.
He is unable to maintain a job for any significant period and has been in and out of custody for most of his adult life.
Justice Grice noted that on release from prison for previous offending he had abstained from drugs for three weeks but cited boredom and feelings that he wanted to try drugs again as reasons for his relapse.
She said Daveron had expressed he would like to attend treatment but believed there was nothing available for him in prison. He also felt institutionalised and like he had no future.
But Justice Grice said his circumstances were not as bad as some who appeared before the court and he had the support of his aunt, who was present in court, and his ex-partner, with whom he shared a child. His aunt believed his difficult background was what led to the offending.
Although his three co-offenders had pleaded guilty, Daveron maintained his innocence.
He told the judge: “There are witnesses who said that they’ve seen the shooter and he has long hair and you’ve got video footage of me with short hair ... it doesn’t make sense.”
Justice Grice took a starting point of 11 years and then applied credit for his personal circumstances, before jailing him for nine years and four months.
While she found the offending had “a hitman quality” and occurred in a recreational area, it did not meet the threshold for a minimum period of imprisonment.
However, a firearms prohibition order was imposed.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.
