Ngaruawahia's Tribal Huk gang leader Jamie Pink has been sentenced to community detention on firearms and weapons charges.
The 45-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court today on two charges of possessing firearms and one of possessing an offensive weapon.
Pink turned up to the Waikato Times carpark in October last year with his 4WD covered in bullets.
Staff called police, who found two shotguns.
Pink had just completed a week-long mission to rid Ngaruawahia of methamphetamine.
A month later, police stopped Pink and found a studded baseball bat in the back of his car.
Judge Simon Menzies sentenced Pink to four months' community detention and 12 months' intensive supervision. Judge Menzies felt his sentence provided the right balance of holding Pink accountable while also deterring any further offending.
Outside court today, Pink's lawyer Roger Laybourn said the sentence was fair and reasonable.
He said Pink drove to the media after it was shot at in a rural property because he wanted to make a public call that his campaign to drive P out of Ngaruawahia was over as it was beginning to get out of hand. Pink realised the campaign could end up causing the community more harm than good, Laybourn said.
However, Pink was adamant he did not own the baseball bat, although he knew it was in the car.
Crown prosecutor Shelley Gilbert believed the offending was more cynical and that Pink went to the media to attract more attention for himself.
She said Pink had racked up 78 convictions since 1988, several for possessing firearms and offensive weapons.
Gilbert added that although Pink was keen to rid Ngaruawahia of P the same couldn't be said for cannabis, for which he has several convictions for possession, the most recent in 2015.
She said Pink had shown no remorse for his actions, which had put the community at risk.
“It’s currently not known how widely this substance may be circulating."