KEY POINTS:
Two brothers who left a closed religious community on the West Coast are now beginning jail sentences for robbery in Christchurch.
Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders noted that the brothers' family was not at court for the sentencing.
He said it was a strange sort of religion that allowed the family to leave two sons standing in the dock bereft of support, while the family claimed the moral high ground through the community they lived in.
Both brothers have partners who have given birth to their children while they have been held in custody.
Joel Tarawa, 20, was jailed for two-and-a-half years, and Simeon Just, 18, received a 23-month sentence with leave to apply for home detention. Tarawa had already received one prison term for violent offending. Both brothers have been working as drainlayers.
Defence counsel Michael Knowles said Tarawa had repudiated his religious upbringing and left the fortresslike environment of the Gloriavale community at Haupiri when he was 15.
"There is still some element of him against the world," said Mr Knowles. Tarawa became the protector of his younger brother when he also left the community.
Counsel for Just, Ruth Buddicom, said her client desperately needed help to complete the transition from the closed religious community to life on the outside.
She said his inability to express remorse for the offending was simply a result of him being so drunk that he was unable to recollect the incident.
The pair were drinking and playing pool with the robbery victim in the Lancaster Park Hotel. They attacked him in the car park as he left. The victim was knocked down, his wallet and cellphone were taken, and he needed 37 staples in a head cut.
Judge Saunders also described another incident where Just was asked about the theft of a cellphone.
The pair took umbrage and smashed a car's windscreen with an axe, and then threw objects through the house windows causing damage totalling almost $1500.
They were released on bail on condition that they stay away from the house, but Tarawa was soon found in the same street carrying a pocket knife and knuckle-dusters.
They admitted the robbery and wilful damage charges, and Tarawa admitted the offensive weapon charges.
Both had already ended up back in custody for breaching their bail.
Judge Saunders said he hoped that Tarawa would be able to address problems such as his drinking while he was in prison. For Just's shorter sentence he was able to impose release conditions to attend a stopping violence programme and to attend assessment and treatment for alcohol abuse.
He ordered each brother to pay $898 reparation for the robbery and the damage.
- NZPA
