Teen admits kidnapping after sour breakup

Hastings teenager Chazz Hayden Hall has admitted his part in a kidnapping planned after a relationship went sour.

Hall, 18, yesterday pleaded guilty in Hastings District Court to kidnapping, aggravated wounding and aggravated robbery.

Police say Hall met his co-defendant Sharon Ann Tonkin, 38, from Hastings, after she ended an eight-year relationship with the victim. Tonkin, who had been watching her former partner's home and harassing him, hatched a plan with Hall to kidnap him.

When the 36-year-old man went home on April 13 Hall pointed a shotgun at him. The gun went off, but no one was injured. Tonkin pulled a knife out of Hall's pocket, which the victim grabbed, injuring his hand.

The man was forced into the back of his car and covered with a duvet. After they drove into the Kaweka Ranges, the man freed his hands, stabbed Tonkin and fled into the forest. He was found seven hours later and spent six weeks at Hawkes Bay Hospital.

Tonkin pleaded guilty to the same charges on June 2. Judge Geoff Rea remanded Hall in custody to be sentenced with Tonkin on July 28.

- NZPA