Teen basher's crime spree

Maurangi Pere. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A teenager who brutally attacked 85-year-old war veteran Eric Brady had days earlier held a knife to the stomach of a Queen's Service Medal holder and stolen his car, it was revealed yesterday.

Name suppression lapsed for Maurangi Pere, 19, who showed no emotion as he was sentenced in the Manukau District Court to eight years and 10 months in prison with a minimum non-parole period of four years for these and other crimes committed during a month-long spree.

When he committed the latest offences, Pere was on bail after throwing a rock through the window of Kelvin Rd Primary School in Papakura last September and stealing a $2000 projector, which he sold for $300.

South Auckland health care worker Limaono Kingi, awarded a QSM in 2003 for community work, said that in February this year, about midday, he had just dropped an elderly woman home after a doctor's appointment at Green Lane Hospital when he was approached by Pere.

The 68-year-old Mangere Bridge resident had parked his Mitsubishi Chariot under a tree on Rangitoto Ave in Papatoetoe to complete paperwork.

After chatting about the weather, Pere demanded Mr Kingi get out of the car.

He threatened him with a 17cm knife, and then drove off.

The grandfather of four, who came to New Zealand from Niue in the 1970s, believes the attack could have been worse had it not been for a blessing he had received from the woman he had dropped off.

"She blessed me before I left. She said, 'Good luck and drive carefully and bless you for what you did, taking me to my appointment.' To me that's a blessing."

Mr Kingi believed Pere would offend again and thought the maximum sentence of 14 years should have been imposed.

His car was found in Otahuhu on February 17 but police did not link Pere to the crime until May, when swabs taken from the gear stick matched his DNA.

By that time Pere was in custody for dragging Mr Brady from his car and beating him as he left the Papatoetoe RSA on February 18.

Mr Brady has titanium plates in his face as a result of his injuries, which included broken jaw bones.

Security camera pictures of Pere, which the Herald ran on its front page, led to his arrest five days later when a member of the public recognised him in Papatoetoe.

Yesterday, Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb suggested Judge Charles Blackie impose a sentence of 10 to 12 years for the attack, which he said had "all the hallmarks of a home invasion-type offence". The judge said it was a "cowardly attack".

"He [Mr Brady] went to fight the war to protect people like you, to protect all of us so that we didn't grow up and live a life under the jackboot.

"He was enjoying retirement until the 18th of February, not so now."

Mr Brady, who was accompanied by his daughter Joanne and her husband, said outside court that he wasn't shocked to find out he wasn't Mr Pere's first victim.

He explained how his life had changed since the incident, including having to take "all sorts" of medication.

"My confidence, when I walk down the street and I see people staring at me and I think, 'Oh, there's another attack on, that type of thing. [Life] will never be back to where it was."

The court heard how Pere, whose estranged parents sat in the public gallery, had been agitated after arguing with his girlfriend and had been up for two days smoking P.

He had associated with gangs since he was five, and had suffered family abuse, and a 2004 psychiatric report described him as a "train wreck waiting to happen", his lawyer Amit Malik said.

"It was almost inevitable Mr Pere would end up like this if something wasn't done," he said. "Something wasn't done and someone suffered."

PERE'S THEFT AND VIOLENCE RAMPAGE

Feb 18: Assaults war veteran Eric Brady outside the Papatoetoe RSA and tries to steal his car.

Feb 12: Holds a knife to 68-year-old Queen Service Medal winner Limaono Kingi's stomach and steals his car.

Feb 2: Drives a stolen Toyota Hiace to Gilmores in Panmure where associates steal liquor worth $162.

Feb 1: With three others, breaks into the Curtain Supermarket in East Tamaki and steals items valued at $8000 and the Toyota, worth 20,000

Jan 25: Steals a motorcycle from a house in Ellerslie.

Sept 27, 2008: Throws a rock through a window at Kelvin Rd Primary School in Papakura and steals a $2000 projector, which he sold for $300.

Pere also faced several other minor charges including breaching bail and community work orders.