Rotorua Mongrel Mob member jailed for kidnap and assault of visitor from Hawke’s Bay

Jayden Kennedy at a previous court hearing. Photo / Andrew Warner

• Jayden Kennedy has been jailed for five years and eight months for kidnapping and assault.
• Kennedy held a young woman for ransom, assaulted her, and forced her to withdraw money.
• Judge Greg Hollister-Jones described the impact on the victims as “extreme” and “traumatic”.

A “fun” night out for two Hawke’s Bay best mates visiting Rotorua turned into a “harrowing” ordeal when one was kidnapped, held for ransom and assaulted by a Mongrel Mob gangster.

Now the mobster, Jayden Kennedy, 28, has been jailed for five years and eight months.

Rotorua District Court Judge Greg Hollister-Jones said the offending was “terrifying and traumatic” for the victims.

Details of the case were revealed when Kennedy was sentenced on Thursday on charges including kidnapping, blackmail and assault.

The ordeal

The two friends, aged under 20, came to Rotorua on February 24 last year to celebrate a birthday.

Judge Hollister-Jones said the pair spent the night at various establishments in Rotorua, then one of them left with someone else.

The other woman walked from downtown Rotorua back to her friend’s parked car but realised she could not drive it because it was a manual transmission.

When Kennedy and a female associate pulled up next to her, she asked for help moving the car somewhere safer as she planned to sleep in it.

Kennedy’s associate drove the vehicle to the Government Gardens and at 2.35am the trio drove to McDonald’s.

The visitor ordered food then asked Kennedy for the car keys.

But Kennedy refused, asking her what she could give to get her keys back. She started to cry but was told to “shut up”.

Kennedy told her: “You bleed red now,” which Judge Hollister-Jones said referred to Kennedy being a patched Mongrel Mob member.

She was kept in the vehicle for the next four hours, despite telling them they could keep the car if they let her go.

She tried to escape but Kennedy stopped her by repeatedly elbowing her in the head, and his associate allegedly put the child locks on the back seat.

After visits to a house then an ATM, where the victim was forced to withdraw $120, she was driven to another property.

The victim was forced to withdraw money from an ATM machine. Photo / 123RF

Judge Hollister-Jones said Kennedy sexually assaulted her as she was vomiting.

The young woman was also threatened with her life and with a welding hammer and told not to raise her voice.

Her friend’s bank card was found in the car and repeated calls and messages were made to demand her PIN. When she eventually answered, she could hear her friend sobbing.

Judge Hollister-Jones said the trio went to a Ngongotahā ATM about 7am and withdrew $200 using the friend’s card.

Police began a search after the kidnapped woman's friend called. Photo / NZME

By this time, the friend had rung police and a search had started.

Police found the car shortly after 7am. It sped off and crashed into another car. Kennedy continued trying to evade police but eventually parked and allowed the victim to escape.

Two alleged associates of Kennedy have denied charges laid in relation to this case.

‘She thought she was going to die’

Judge Hollister-Jones said the impacts of the offending on both victims were “extreme”.

He said the first victim described it in a statement as the “worst day of her life”.

“She feels completely betrayed by seeking help and that had been taken advantage of in the worst way. She was afraid of being both raped and killed ... she thought she was going to die.”

He said she needed therapy and was now socially isolated.

The second victim, who was at the sentencing with her parents, had her victim impact statement read by Crown prosecutor Kris Bucher.

She wrote it was supposed to be a “fun and memorable night”.

The pair planned a fun night out in Rotorua. Photo / Felix Desmarais

When she realised her phone had been ringing non-stop, she was not prepared for what she was about to hear.

Her stomach dropped when she heard her friend crying while blackmail threats and demands for money for her friend’s release were made.

“I was fearing the next time I would be seeing her I would be seated front row at her funeral.”

She said the screams she heard over the phone of her friend running to safety still kept her up at night.

“It’s a constant reminder of how much fear and terror she was in.”

After the ordeal was over, both sets of parents had to travel from Hawke’s Bay to collect the young women as her car was written off.

She said the pair had lost their friendship as the trauma of what they went through became too difficult to support each other.

“I am very much subconsciously carrying the guilt of ‘what if’ and it never gets easier.”

Kennedy’s background

Judge Hollister-Jones said a cultural report said Kennedy had a dysfunctional childhood marked by neglect by his mother and periods of abandonment.

He was expelled from schools and joined a gang in his mid-teens. He started taking drugs at an early age, which resulted in a severe substance abuse disorder and anti-social personality disorder – features of which included a lack of empathy and remorse.

There was reference to methamphetamine being consumed while the victim was being detained and the ATM money being used to buy drugs.

However, Judge Hollister-Jones said there was no evidence that Kennedy’s substance abuse disorder was the main driver of the offending.

He was cautious about discounting Kennedy’s offending because of his background issues when the offending was this serious. He gave a discount of 13% for background factors and 20% for guilty plea.

Kennedy had admitted charges of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated robbery, assault with intent to injure, threatening to kill, assault with a weapon, blackmail, theft under $500, dangerous driving and failing to stop for police.

The end sentence for all offending, including unrelated charges of shoplifting and aggravated assault committed the month earlier, was five years and eight months' jail.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.