For his part in the crime, Belle was sentenced by Judge Greg Davis in the Whangarei District Court in January to two years and seven months in jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated robbery, one of theft and another of receiving stolen property.
Inglis was sentenced by Judge John McDonald, who fixed a starting point of two years and nine months on the lead charge of injuring with intent to injure, and ended with nine months' home detention.
Belle filed an appeal in the High Court at Whangarei against his sentence on the grounds it was manifestly excessive and pointed in particular to the disparity between his sentence and that of Inglis.
His lawyer, Tracy Spencer, said the starting point of five years fixed by Judge Davis was too high and there was an excessive uplift of four months on the charge of receiving when one month would have sufficed. She said the discounts for Bell's youth, rehabilitative efforts and remorse were insufficient.
Justice Kit Toogood agreed, saying there was no principled basis upon which the difference in starting points could be justified.
"There is also the consideration that the core principle underlying recognition of a guilty plea is that a defendant will receive a reasonable discount for acknowledging responsibility for offending. What has occurred to Mr Belle does not reflect that policy," he said.
Justice Toogood quashed Belle's prison term and instead imposed a sentence of four months' home detention.
While sentencing Belle, Judge Davis said the aggravated robbery was a blight on the North and on Dargaville. The tourist industry, he said, was built on New Zealand's reputation of being clean and green and a friendly destination.
