The details of Pearce’s offending in the two incidents were outlined in a Court of Appeal judgment after he challenged his current sentence when learning he would have to serve the entirety of his jail term - six years and four months.
According to the decision released last week, Pearce was given that sentence in September 2021 after pleading guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon in relation to the stabbing.
Because the wounding charge was a “second-strike offence” under the Three Strikes regime in force at the time, the judge ordered that his sentence be served without parole.
But Pearce understood from his counsel that the government of the time had announced its intention to repeal the Three Strikes regime. He believed that meant he would be eligible for parole in the ordinary manner.
However, the Three Strikes Legislation Repeal Act, which was enacted in August 2022, did not contain any transitional provisions relating to sentences that had already been imposed under that regime, and the order that Pearce serve his full term of imprisonment without parole remained in place.
His first-strike offence stemmed from an evening in June 2017 when he broke into the home of a 19-year-old girl in Wairoa.
She woke up to find him in her bedroom, armed. He pointed a .22-calibre cut-down firearm at her face and said, “The cops are after me. They are all outside.”
“Agitated and pacing, he instructed the victim to roll him a smoke, close the curtains and lock all the doors and windows. He followed her around the house while she did so,” the appeal decision detailed.
Pearce then directed the victim back into her bedroom and told her to wipe down his firearms, put them away and tell the police they belonged to her dad. She complied.
After removing his Mongrel Mob gang patch, Pearce got into the victim’s bed. He grabbed her jersey and pulled her down on to the bed with him.
Pinning her down, he said, “Tell me I’m your boyfriend.” She feared she was going to be raped.
But eventually, the victim managed to convince Pearce to leave. The police were called and he was arrested in the backyard.
Anthony Pearce turned to the Court of Appeal to challenge his sentence.
Pearce was jailed for two years and seven months on admitted charges of aggravated burglary, kidnapping and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Then, in October 2020, about three years after being sentenced for the first strike, Pearce was socialising with his partner and other members of the Mongrel Mob in Kawerau.
He suspected members of the group had stolen his partner’s phone and a box of alcohol and inspected the vehicle of one of the men.
“At some point, the victim moved over to the car and leaned over the open right rear door. Without any warning and in one continuous motion, Mr Pearce removed a boning knife from his sleeve and plunged it deep into the victim’s neck,” the appeal decision detailed.
“The blade passed through the victim’s C6 and C7 vertebrae, lacerating his spinal cord and instantly paralysing him. He collapsed to the ground.”
The victim was taken to Tauranga Hospital and then Middlemore Hospital, where the knife was surgically removed.
At the time of Pearce’s sentencing, the victim was in constant need of a wheelchair. It is possible that in the long term, he may not be entirely dependent on the wheelchair, but he suffers from spasticity and his left side is permanently damaged.
Pearce, whose “very disadvantaged childhood” was partially canvassed in the decision, has so far served around two years and six months of his sentence.
The Court of Appeal allowed him an extension of time to appeal his sentence but then dismissed his challenge.
Pearce relied on decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal to argue that without the prospect of parole, his sentence was so grossly disproportionate that it breached his rights under the Bill of Rights Act.
The Court of Appeal found a minimum period of imprisonment of 50 per cent would have been required in Pearce’s case, were it not for the Three Strikes regime.
“So Mr Pearce would have been eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence: three years and two months. The effect of the non-parole order is that he will be denied eligibility for parole for an additional three years and two months,” the Court of Appeal decision stated.
“Denial of parole for that additional period cannot be rationally justified by reference to the purposes of sentencing identified in the Sentencing Act. But that disconnect from sentencing principles was a deliberate feature of the Three Strikes regime enacted by Parliament.
“Mr Pearce’s offending was very serious, and squarely within the policy intent of that regime. We are not persuaded that the high threshold of gross disproportionality set by [Section 9 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act] is crossed in Mr Pearce’s case.”
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff, where she covered crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
