Rotorua red shoes gang attackers Patrick Taipeti and Te-Roku Hemi admit roles

Black Power members set about a man associated with the Mongrel Mob. Photo / NZME

A Black Power gang member involved in a Rotorua pack attack where a man’s legs were sliced with a machete and his red shoes taken has also admitted having a gun unlawfully.

Patrick Rangiteahu Taipeti, 31, told police he had a shotgun at his house for protection because he had been previously run over.

He and fellow patched Black Power gang member Te-Roku Hemi, 24, have appeared in the Rotorua District Court and admitted their roles in an attack that saw a man’s leg sliced to the bone and the other leg badly cut around his ankle.

As the man lay bleeding outside a Rotorua home on October 11 last year, the group of Black Power members and associates stripped of his red shoes.

The main offender who took to the man’s legs with a machete, Ben Tihi, 30, has been jailed for five years and five months after admitting a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Taipeti and Hemi pleaded guilty on Wednesday after the Crown reduced the original charges they faced to one charge each of injuring with intent to injure.

Taipeti and Hemi were described in the police summary of facts, released to the Rotorua Daily Post, as patched members of the Outbackz Black Power gang.

They did not know the man wearing the red shoes. He was described in the renewed summary of facts as being an associate of the Mongrel Mob but “not an active participant in gang activities”.

The summary said gangs often targeted each other taking “colours” or “patches” as trophies.

The attack happened at 4.50pm after the man in red shoes, who was walking alone on Manuka Cres, pulled a gang symbol at one of two carloads of Black Power members, the summary said.

The gang cars chased the man, who ran to the front of a house on Old Taupo Rd. Taipeti, Hemi and Thii followed him to the property and isolated him in the driveway.

The summary said Hemi and Taipeti and their associates violently assaulted the man as he lay on the ground.

Tihi used the machete to slice the man’s leg and ankle before the group left in two cars with the red shoes.

The occupant of the house called police. The summary said the occupant saved the man’s life by applying tourniquets to his wounds.

The victim is still unable to walk and has had numerous surgeries, the summary said.

Firearms charges

Taipeti also admitted charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition.

A summary of facts said Taipeti was at his home on November 22 last year when police executed a search warrant.

Taipeti told his son to go and get a grey Nike bag. When police searched the bag, they found a Hawk 98 Barrel & Receiver 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and nine 12-gauge shotgun cartridges.

Taipeti told police he bought the gun for protection because he got run over.

Judge Tony Snell remanded Taipeti and Hemi in custody to be sentenced on December 6.

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.