Tiaki and the victim got into his car and drove to a nearby park where he wouldn’t let her get out of the car and spent several hours abusing her. When he got out to retrieve something from the boot, his victim seized the opportunity and ran across the field, screaming for help.
He chased her and grabbing her by the legs, dragged her back to the car.
Shortly after Tiaki drove off with the victim still in the car, but returned three times, first to collect some of her clothes, then a dog and finally his cell phone.
The court heard how Tiaki made the woman strip naked in the car after he couldn’t find his phone, falsely accusing her of concealing it in her clothes. It was later found at the park.
While inside the car, Tiaki continued to abuse the victim, telling her how she was going to die and outlining various methods including tying a rock to her neck and throwing her in a river, snapping her legs and chopping them off or blowing her head off with a gun.
He also put a dog chain around her neck, binding her so tightly she was unable to move. He then drove her home and untied her so she could cook him dinner, all the while verbally abusing her and demanding she smoke cannabis.
After dinner, Tiaki made the woman lie on the bed and bound her legs and upper body, attaching a dog leash to a car battery, which he put at the bottom of the bed so she couldn’t escape.
When the victim awoke and wanted to go to the toilet, he untied her arms, but refused to untie her legs forcing her to carry the battery to the bathroom.
Later the police arrived at the address. Tiaki apologised to the victim and said he loved her but fled the house and wasn’t arrested until the next day.
You treated her like some sort of animal
Judge Stephen Harrop in sentencing noted the victim, who was in court to support Tiaki, wasn’t seriously injured in the attack, suffering minor scratches and bruising, reddening around her throat and difficulty speaking.
But the judge noted the mental harm she suffered as a result of the incident was significant.
“During the incident she did not know how it was going to end up. You told her how it would be done.”
Judge Harrop noted the aggravating features of the attack, including the length of time the woman was detained and the degrading aspects of the attack.
“You treated her like some sort of animal.
“You put a dog collar on her neck, a car battery was used, she was tackled and dragged across the ground and forced to strip naked in the car, when you wrongly suspected she had your phone,” he said.
Despite a protection order, he had verbally abused her and made repeated threats to kill. The judge said he had no doubt the woman believed she was going to die.
Judge Harrop then referred to the several attempts to pervert the course of justice, while he was remanded in custody. Despite a protection order as well as a court order not to contact his victim, Tiaki tried to get the victim to say she was living out of Wellington, so he could get bail.
Judge Harrop noted while Tiaki had remained in custody, it wasn’t through lack of trying to be released on his part.
Tiaki’s lawyer Gary Turkington sought a prison sentence of 3 years, while Crown prosecutor Luke Claasen suggested a sentence of between two years and nine months and three years and four months would be appropriate.
Judge Harrop noted concern in the pre-sentence report about Tiaki’s attitude and unwillingness to take action, while other sentencing reports acknowledged Tiaki’s willingness to address his addictions and anger management issues.
He also noted that despite being in prison for 19 months, there was limited ability to address his issues. Even though he’d admitted the charges six months ago, Corrections didn’t consider him a sentenced prisoner, which would have enabled him to take part in rehabilitation programmes.
But he also accepted the letters he’d received from Tiaki and others as well as the restorative justice process Tiaki had undertaken with his victim. At that meeting Tiaki apologised and had shown some insight into his offending, the judge said.
On the basis of that meeting and the time his client had already served, Turkington urged the judge to impose a “merciful’ sentence of two years or less, leaving open the option of home detention. He said a community-based reintegration programme had agreed to help Tiaki, when he was released from prison.
But Claasen maintained the programme could be included as part of Tiaki’s release conditions. And while the Crown acknowledged the time already served addressed the punitive element of the sentence, Tiaki still had a long way to go to address the underlying issues of his offending, he said.
Judge Harrop said that under the law he wasn’t allowed to take into account the time Tiaki had spent in prison and that was a matter for the Parole Board. He ordered all reports prepared for the sentencing be passed onto the board, so they were aware of the time Tiaki had already spent in custody.
On the charges of kidnapping, strangulation, threatening to kill and perverting the course of justice Tiaki was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media advisor at the Ministry of Justice.
