A former regular gambler at a Napier sports bar was today sentenced to six years' jail for a robbery in which he stabbed a staff member before crashing her car in a botched getaway.
Justin Tipuna Poi, 37, was appearing before Judge Tony Adeane in Napier District Court, having earlier admitted charges relating to the robbery, which happened near Legends Sports Cafe on April 29.
Observing the 62-year-old female target's routine, Poi planned the robbery, enlisted an accomplice who drove him to the scene to commit the crime, where he had parked his own van earlier in the day.
With his face obscured with clothing, a beanie and sunglasses, and armed with a knife, Poi ambushed the woman as she was about to get out of a vehicle with $21,595 in weekend takings from two bars.
During the brief incident, the woman was stabbed in the stomach with the knife which had been concealed in Poi's clothing. Poi shoved her to the footpath and fled in her car, which crashed soon afterwards after being chased by police.
