Mokaraka avoids jail sentence

Actor Rob Mokaraka arrives at the Auckland District Court on Friday. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The police officers who shot actor Rob Mokaraka after an angry confrontation are the true victims of the shooting because they feared for their lives and were forced to pull the trigger, a court was told.

Armed police were called to Mokaraka's Pt Chevalier home on July 27 last year after reports there was an armed, angry man at the house.

The 37-year-old was shot in the chest by police when he advanced on officers carrying a meat cleaver and two knives. They believed he also had a gun. He pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a weapon and threatening to kill and was yesterday sentenced to 400 hours community work and supervision.

The officer who shot Mokaraka was 27 years old and only five months out of police college. He genuinely felt Mokaraka wanted to kill him. For two days after the shooting he couldn't sleep, fearing he would die and uncertain about the internal police inquiries that followed.

He feared he could be stood down from his duties for months on end while the official inquiries were held.

Crown Solicitor Simon Moore, SC, said Mokaraka was "psychologically desperate" at the time of the shooting and had been seriously injured.

But that didn't change the seriousness of the situation for the officers involved who were only doing their jobs protecting the community.

"They thought they were going to die. They were forced to pull the trigger."

Mr Moore said Mokaraka was undoubtedly a talented man who had confronted his demons and was remorseful.

He said if he was given a non-custodial sentence he could use his talents for the benefit of the community.

Mokaraka's lawyer Paul Dacre said Mokaraka had apologised to the officers and accepted full responsibility.

"He is a talented man with a lot of potential and a lot of support, who is making a valuable contribution to the community."

At the time he was in a deep clinical depression without insight into what he'd done. "It was out of character and completely illogical to take the steps he took."

Judge Mary Beth Sharp said Mokaraka was a fine actor with a number of acting roles to his credit.

"What point is there sending him to prison when he has so much to give the community."

The judge said she had sympathy for the police on the front-line who were literally in the firing line on a daily basis but it would be incorrect for the court to view that as an aggravating factor.

"It is difficult for people who have never suffered from depression to understand that people in the enormous grip of the blackest depression can behave in irrational ways."

Jailing Mokaraka would send a message to others that his type of behaviour would never be justified or tolerated but it would probably crush a man who had given a lot to the community.

When he was shot, Mokaraka was working on writing projects. He had recently returned from performing to sell-out audiences in London with his play Strange Resting Places.