Man who shot dairy owner in face jailed

File photo

A man who shot a Timaru dairy owner in the face with an air pistol has been jailed for aggravated robbery.

Corey Ronald Senelale, 20, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison when he appeared before Judge Gary MacAskill in Timaru District Court yesterday.

The Timaru Herald reported Senelale and co-offender Samuel Anglem had gone into the dairy late on September 27 last year. Senelale was carrying a gas-operated air pistol and Anglem a claw hammer.

Senelale had put the pistol to the head of the male shopkeeper and threatened to kill him if he did not open the till.

The man opened the till but Anglem hit him with the hammer and Senelale then fired the pistol. A slug lodged in the man's nose and he required surgery to have it removed.

Senelale's lawyer, Sarah Saunderson-Warner, told the court Senelale had not meant to shoot the man, but got a fright when Anglem hit the man.

Judge MacAskill said there needed to be consistency between Senelale's sentence and that of Anglem even though they had slightly different criminal records. Anglem had received a sentence of three years and four months,

Senelale was also ordered to pay reparation of $383.90, half the value of the cash and cigarettes taken in the robbery.

- NZPA