Gang member jailed after double shooting incident in Kaiapoi

The scene of the Kaiapoi shooting. Photo / Kurt Bayer.

501 deportee Mokonuiarangi Tuatahi Chong has been sentenced to a two-year six-month jail term after he dropped a man off at hospital after a gang shooting in Kaiapoi in January 2021.

Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie told the 25-year-old "following events in Christchurch and elsewhere, the public mood is one of zero tolerance for such offending" and that deterrent sentences will be imposed.

The shooting took place in January 2021, while Chong was already on bail for earlier offending. A firearm and ammunition were found by police in the car that Chong drove to the hospital.

A second man was found at the Kaiapoi property with a gunshot wound to the chest.

"This is what we refer to down here as a post-terror-attack, anti-gun environment," Judge Crosbie told Chong's lawyer, who was appearing online from Wellington.

Chong had admitted charges of unlawfully carrying a firearm and failing to stop for a police patrol, in May 2020, at a time of heightened gang tension in the Bay of Plenty.

He also admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition, and a flick knife, after the gang shooting incident at Kaiapoi. He was on bail at the time of that incident.

Defence counsel Jasper Rhodes urged that a home detention sentence be imposed. He said that Chong had not been raised by his biological parents but had good support from his grandparents, and was very much involved in his culture while growing up. There was instability with his later education because he was moving around because of an attempt to make a career in rugby league in Australia.

Crown prosecutor Sophia Bicknell said it was gang offending with violence. "A punitive element is required. Anything short of imprisonment would not be appropriate."

Chong was sent from Australia under its policy of deporting offenders, after using and dealing in drugs. He had been associated with the Bandidos gang in Australia and joined the Mongols gang in the Bay of Plenty.

Judge Crosbie commented on a report by a great uncle who said Chong's ancestral descent was from prominent chiefs on both his mother's and father's side. The judge said: "You come from a distinguished background. That makes your appearance for this offending, and the choices you have made, quite incongruous and hard to reconcile."

By the age of 25, Chong had committed offences in both Australia and New Zealand. His arrival at the hospital with the wounded man indicated a close connection to serious offending earlier in the evening.

"Firearms offences of this kind are on the increase, either related to gang rivalries or drug offences," said the judge.

He said that because of time served on remand, Chong would be eligible to apply for release by the Parole Board soon.

He was also disqualified from driving for a year.