Ram-raider aligns himself with a gang, ‘happy to do lag’ for his role in burglaries, robberies

The Noel Leeming store in Cambridge was smashed in by the group early on the morning of December 19, 2022, including Hamilton teen, Charlie Thompson. Photo / Mike Scott

A young ram-raider jailed for his role in armed robberies and burglaries of bottle stores and electronics shops has settled into prison life, having aligned himself with a gang and is now “happy to do my lag”.

Nineteen-year-old Charlie Thompson was involved in ram-raids in Cambridge and Te Awamutu in late 2022, along with a home invasion where the occupants were assaulted, had their vehicles stolen, and police were later shot at.

The Hamilton teen earlier admitted a plethora of charges including aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, burglary, unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle, intentional damage, and unlawful possession of ammunition. Now he’s been jailed for the various incidents.

But just before sending him down to the cells in the Hamilton District Court, Judge Tini Clark pulled him up on comments he made to a pre-sentence report writer in which she believed he seemed “very comfortable in the prison environment”.

“You engaged but only to a limited extent ... you expressed you were happy to take your lag and do your time and I know that you have aligned yourself with a gang, but this doesn’t have to be your life, Mr Thompson.

“It really does sadden me to see someone in your position resigned to being in prison, serving time with no real inclination to do anything different.”

‘High end’ whiskey, cigarettes, cellphones, and gaming equipment

Thompson and six associates first struck Blackball Liquor in Cambridge on the afternoon of December 11, 2022.

The sole staff member saw the car pull up and park - ready to take off towards Lake Rd.

He noticed the group all wearing masks so jumped across the counter to push the door closed, but only got it partially there before Thompson and his group managed to pull it open.

Once inside, one member of the group who was carrying a small axe smashed glass cabinets and also swung it at the victim who put his hands up to defend himself.

He was cut on the arm.

All wore distinctive clothing and jewellery, one was even sporting an electronically-monitored bracelet.

The till, holding $1000 cash, was ripped out, along with cigarette trays, while “high-end” whiskey was also taken.

On December 19, a Mazda was stolen from Glenview, and was one of two used in a burglary of Noel Leeming, Cambridge.

As a security guard sat in his patrol car out the front, the group approached the car and began smashing it with a baseball bat before using the bat and other weapons to smash their way into the store.

The group of 10 smashed display cabinets, taking several devices including laptops, cellphones, and gaming equipment.

At 4.42am, Thompson and his associates hit Super Liquor Te Awamutu, and again smashed and kicked their way inside.

A security guard arrived in his car but the group threw glass bottles and rocks at the guard’s vehicle, causing him to flee.

A large amount of alcohol was stolen before the group fled.

The aftermath of the break-in of Noel Leeming that Hamilton teen Charlie Thompson was involved in. Photo / Mike Scott

The group in the Mazda stopped at a Gillard Rd house where they used a large concrete tile to smash their way inside through the laundry and then to the kitchen where an elderly victim was using the phone to call police.

The phone was taken off her and car keys were demanded before a male victim came down the hallway.

He was punched in the head and sets of keys and a wallet were stolen. They fled in a Toyota Rav.

The Toyota was spiked on Tuhikaramea Rd and abandoned in Bader about 20 minutes later.

It was outside the Gillard Rd house that two police officers were later shot at by the mother of one of Thompson’s co-offenders who was texting him as they fled Te Awamutu and headed back towards Hamilton.

She fired another shot at a police officer as he spoke to a Bader resident on his front lawn.

Nobody was injured, but the woman - who can’t be named - was jailed for four years and 10 months in December last year.

‘Shocking behaviour’

Judge Clark took an overall starting point of 13 and a half years prison but, given the totality principle, she found to be “inappropriate” and instead adjusted it down to eight and a half years.

Part of her reasoning was that Thompson was not the one who wielded a weapon, he was also young at the time and it was “group behaviour”.

She applied a total of 60 per cent in discounts for youth, his guilty pleas, remorse and his upbringing, outlined in his section 27 report.

Judge Clark noted she was disappointed not to have any victim impact statements to read out, and said she could “imagine just how scary and shocking this behaviour was”.

She declined to issue a reparation order as he had no money.

“But make no mistake, Mr Thompson ... you have caused an extremely high level of harm here ... emotional, physical, financial harm and the sentence really reflects how seriously your behaviour is taken by the court.”

She jailed him for three years and five months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and been a journalist for 20.