Paranoid meth-user shoots at innocent drivers on Napier-Taupo road

One of the shots fired by Gino Butler smashed the rear window of an innocent driver's car and passed through the sun visor before exiting just above the windscreen. Photo / NZ Police

Paranoid after taking methamphetamine, Gino Cyruss Butler shot at cars on the Napier-Taupo road in the mistaken belief he was being chased by the Mongrel Mob.

Instead, he was firing at people a judge described as "average Joe members of the public", one of whom came within centimetres of being hit as a bullet passed through the inside of his car.

Photographs presented in evidence to the Napier District Court show the man's Nissan Primera with its rear window shot out, and a bullet exit hole in a roof panel just above the windscreen on the driver's side.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh said the driver heard a loud bang as the bullet came through the window and later found that it had passed through the sun visor in front of him.

"He was very frightened by that, and not surprisingly," Judge Mackintosh said.

Butler appeared in court for sentencing today after admitting two charges of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard, unlawful possession of a semi-automatic firearm and dangerous driving.

The judge sentenced him to two years and three months in prison. He has already served eight months in custody on remand after being arrested on the day of the incident, July 18 last year.

Judge Mackintosh said the shootings happened when Butler was in "a heightened state of paranoia, affected by heavy use of meth". She called his actions serious offending against innocent members of the public.

The damaged car was one of two that Butler shot at as he drove along State Highway 5. One of the calls to police was made from Te Pohue, about 42km from Napier.

It was the third shooting incident Butler had been involved in since the previous month.

The court heard that he had been shot in the stomach and wounded in an incident in Wairoa in June 2021, and was shot at again in Napier in July.

Police said in June 2021 they were sending extra officers to Wairoa during a spate of shootings involving members of the rival Mongrel Mob and Black Power gangs.

Judge Mackintosh said Butler had been previously associated with the Mongrel Mob but had connections to Black Power through members of his family, "so things got a bit complicated in that regard".

When driving along the Napier-Taupo road on July 18, Butler in his paranoid state convinced himself that Mongrel Mob members were pursuing him.

"They were not in the Mongrel Mob. They were average Joe members of the public," she said.

Defence counsel Philip Ross argued for a home detention sentence, after taking into account the 254 days Butler had already spent behind bars. Police prosecutor Dean Goodall said the only appropriate sentence was one of imprisonment.

Judge Mackintosh sentenced Butler to 27 months in prison for reckless firearms use, 12 months for possessing the firearm and three months for dangerous driving, all to be served concurrently. He was disqualified from driving for six months.

Judge Mackintosh noted that Butler had four daughters and a partner who was a "good person".

She advised him that when he is released he should stay off drugs, disconnect himself from the gang lifestyle "and just get on with looking after your family".