Hamilton teen jailed for role in Tauranga robberies of Michael Hill Jewellers shop and liquor store

Smash-and-grab jewellery thief Te Peeti Allen aka Te Peeti Raki, 18, appears in court for sentencing via audiovisual link. Photo / Alex Cairns

Six-hundred-and-thirty-thousand dollars in one minute and 12 seconds.

That’s the cost of the damage caused and haul stolen by a trio of thieves in a lightning-fast, daylight smash-and-grab raid of a Michael Hill Jewellers store in the middle of a mall, as shoppers looked on.

Armed with a metal hammer, Te Peeti Melahkai Allen, 18, of Hamilton and two unknown associates wore hoods and face coverings as they robbed the store in Mount Maunganui’s Bayfair mall at 5.38pm on March 19.

Fearing for their safety, store workers fled, the Crown summary of facts said.

Allen — also known by the surname Raki — used the hammer to smash the top of glass cabinets displaying jewellery. He put jewellery into a bag and the other thieves also grabbed jewellery from the cabinets.

They were in the store for “about one minute and 12 seconds” before fleeing on foot back to the mall’s Farm St entrance with the stolen goods.

Allen brandished the hammer at mall security staff when they tried to stop him from escaping.

The summary said the stolen jewellery and damage were valued at $637,234 and only about $15,000 of jewellery was recovered.

The robbery was filmed and posted on social media. In the video, an alarm sounds as cabinet after cabinet is smashed.

A still from a video of a robbery at the Michael Hill Jewellers store in Bayfair Shopping Centre in March.

But it was not Allen’s first time targeting the mall. Six days earlier, he was involved in burgling the Kings & Queens jewellery store.

Allen again used a hammer to break into the store’s glass cabinets.

An estimated $10,000 of jewellery was taken and not recovered, according to the Crown summary.

Allen was also involved in the armed hold-up of a Tauranga liquor store last year where cigarettes, alcohol and a cash register with $2500-$3500 were taken.

Allen appeared before Judge Louis Bidois for sentencing in the Tauranga District Court on September 14.

He earlier pleaded guilty to two charges each of aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, and one charge each of burglary, failing to stop for police and dangerous driving.

One of the stolen vehicles was used in the Kings and Queens burglary. The latter two offences were committed in Tauranga on April 1.

The maximum penalty for each robbery charge is 14 years in prison and 10 years for the burglary charge.

Crown prosecutor Molly Tutton-Harris argued for a prison sentence and said it was unrealistic to order reparation as the defendant had no means to pay it.

Tutton-Harris said the Crown accepted significant mitigating factors were revealed in Allen’s cultural background report, including that he grew up with “serious deprivation” and was introduced to drugs at a young age.

Allen’s lawyer Peter Attwood argued the Michael Hill Jeweller robbery was high value but not the highest of its kind in the country.

He said Allen had not tried to blame anyone else for his crimes and he urged Judge Bidois to focus on his client’s “rehabilitative needs”.

Judge Louis Bidois sentenced Te Peeti Allen in the Tauranga District Court on September 14. Photo / Andrew Warner

Judge Bidois said Allen had an “extremely deprived upbringing”, was a user of cannabis and methamphetamine and had “significant complex rehabilitative needs”.

The judge read excerpts from two victim impact statements, one who sought $50,000 reparation and the other $5648.

He said one robbery victim described being upset, unable to sleep at night and the crime having an “extreme impact” on their ability to run the business.

Judge Bidois said another victim was “very upset” about damage to their store and the owner and staff were left traumatised and “scared” the business would be targeted again.

He sentenced Allen to two years and 10 months in prison, which included uplifts for offending on bail and prior convictions, and discounts for the defendant’s youth, guilty pleas and background.

Allen was told the time he had already spent in custody would be “credited to him” and he was disqualified from driving for six months on the dangerous driving charge.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.