A block of shops including The Boundary Restaurant and Bar at Tamahere, near Hamilton, were broken into and robbed last winter. Photo / Google
A man involved in smashing his way into a string of businesses, stealing cash and bottles of wine and spirits, has been handed a jail term.
Logan Hotene also stole multiple cars - one because “he couldn’t be bothered walking” - and assaulted his partner and police.
He also threw rocks at a car that innocent members of the public were sitting in, all over several months last year.
The 23-year-old stole a Mazda Demio from a University of Waikato staff car park the day before the burglaries in Tamahere, a rural suburb on the southeastern edge of Hamilton, on May 11.
During the early hours of the following morning he picked up two associates and first struck the Boundary Restaurant and Bar, with the trio kicking at the glass door before one of the others grabbed a carjack to smash their way inside.
Inside, they grabbed more than 40 bottles of wine and spirits loading up their car on multiple trips.
Keen for more, they headed next door to Poppy Peach cafe, again smashing and kicking their way in, grabbing the till which contained about $500.
The last target was the nearby Tamahere Bakery where the two associates stole the till containing about $200 cash.
Hotene drove them from the scene before dumping the car in Nawton.
He admitted more than 15 charges which involved other motor vehicle thefts, including another silver Demio a month earlier.
When questioned about that theft, Hotene said he stole it because he “couldn’t be bothered walking”.
He also admitted assaulting his partner in June, kicking and punching her after an argument developed during a drinking session. He also assaulted his mother who tried to intervene.
When spoken to by police - who he assaulted by punching an officer in the head at the scene - about the assault on his partner, Hotene replied, “At least I didn’t kill her”.
On another occasion, he was found with tools to break into vehicles and his fingerprints were later connected to two other car thefts.
He also admitted throwing rocks at a car that had a father and his two sons inside.
Hotene’s lawyer Jesse Lang urged Judge Glen Marshall to hand down a sentence of home detention, outlying his numerous mental health conditions.
However, while Judge Marshall accepted those conditions, and gave Hotene a discount for those difficulties, he said the offending was too serious for any other type of sentence.
Hotene was jailed for 18 months.
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