'Idiot' brothers behind bars after Harley theft

File photo / APN

Two teenage Napier brothers have been sent to jail for their roles in stealing a $37,000 Harley Davidson motorbike in an escapade a judge labelled "bare-faced banditry".

Judas James Rarere, 18, was last week sentenced to two years and nine months for charges of taking the bike and burglary involving the theft of a trailer to carry the machine. He had denied the charges in a hearing before Judge Tony Adeane in Napier District Court in December.

He was also disqualified from driving for three years for dangerous driving after the Sunday afternoon theft of the motorbike from a busy Noel Leeming carpark off Hastings St, Napier, on August 28 last year.

Moments after the theft, Rarere accelerated past traffic and shoppers in the Pak'nSave Napier carpark, overtaking queued vehicles at its Station St exit, and hitting one vehicle and a divide at what the judge said was one of the busiest roundabouts in Hawke's Bay.

The hefty motorbike was thrown from the trailer, and repairs cost $16,800, the court was told.

Rarere's brother, 19-year-old Ihaka Rarere, was sentenced to two years for being involved in helping load the bike on to the trailer in front of shoppers who tried to intervene. He had admitted the charge two days before the hearing was held.

Another man had been found not guilty. He was present when the bike was taken but stayed in the vehicle, took no part in the offences and said he wanted nothing to do with what was happening.

Judge Adeane said the brothers were a "pair of idiots" who disregarded the safety and rights of others in circumstances which could have had much more serious offences.

Explanations that it happened under the influence of P was no excuse, and could not be used as any form of mitigating factor, Judge Adeane said.