KEY POINTS:
Two skinheads involved in the beating and robbery of a tourist have been jailed.
Jaydon Russell Borland, 31, was jailed for six years and Jason George Gregory, 20, jailed for 4-1/2 years for their part in the kidnapping, assault and robbery of Canadian Jeremie Kawerninski in April last year.
Co-accused Benjamin Peter McPadden, 19, received 18 months' supervision and 250 hours' community service for his part in the crime in the High Court in Wellington today.
Last month, McPadden was found guilty of kidnapping Mr Kawerninski. Gregory was found guilty of kidnapping and robbery, while Borland was found guilty on both those charges, along with a further count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to rob.
The Canadian, of native American ethnicity, had been in Wellington two days when he approached the heavily-tattooed Borland and invited him and his friends out for drinks.
While drinking, Mr Kawerninski told them stories about how he was a gangster in Canada and showing them scars he said were from bullet wounds.
He rode back to McPadden's Lower Hutt flat with the men. They stopped enroute to buy bourbon and coke.
Arriving at the flat, they smoked cannabis, Mr Kawerninski passed out, and was woken by four or five men beating him up.
A pillowcase was put over his head, his legs were bound, his belongings were taken and he was dumped in a remote location.
Mr Kawerninski spent eight days in Lower Hutt Hospital with a fractured rib, collapsed lung and serious bruising after his ordeal.
Justice Jillian Mallon thanked Borland for a letter he wrote to her, telling him it was never too late to say he was sorry .
"Even if he was making a nuisance of himself he did not deserve what happened to him," she said.
McPadden received the lighter sentence because he drove the car and acted as a lookout only to avoid "getting a kicking" from the men who had just beaten up the comatose tourist, Justice Mallon said.
Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said Borland was "the most culpable offender".
"He is described by a probation officer as being a high risk of reoffending and of high risk to the community."
Gregory was also a high risk reoffender, Mr Burston said.
"He had just finished a two-year sentence for aggravated robbery a month earlier. Then, in April, he has taken part in this robbery."
McPadden was less culpable, and didn't invite the men or the tourist around to his flat, and was a lower risk of reoffending, the Crown said.
- NZPA
