Tribesmen sgt-at-arms Teratutonu Herewini sentenced for shooting his own gang’s boss, Dion ‘Buzz’ Snell, in Auckland

A father of four who had immersed himself in gang life since the age of 13 had decided he wanted out for the sake of his family after warfare between his current outlaw club and his former one ramped up.

It was a commendable goal, Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith said last week as now-former Tribesman sergeant-at-arms Teratutonu Herewini, 37, appeared in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing.

But in the execution of that goal, Herewini brought a loaded gun to a confrontation with his own gang’s boss, shot him, then chased him across a crowded South Auckland carpark.

Such actions could not be tolerated, Justice Wilkinson-Smith said.

“Gun violence in Auckland has escalated and must be denounced. It is hurting families and it is leaving men like you in custody.”

Herewini pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in April, on the morning his trial for attempted murder was set to begin. Both charges carry maximum sentences of up to 14 years in prison.

The Ōtara resident’s last-minute admission of guilt came, his lawyer said, after a late disclosure from prosecutors: a new, clearer cut of CCTV footage from the South Auckland carpark where the November 2022 shooting occurred.

The Tribesmen were gathering there for a meeting and national president Dion “Buzz” Snell had just arrived when CCTV showed Herwini walking through the crowd towards Snell with an object in his hand. Moments later, shots rang out and three men could be seen running, including the victim and the defendant.

For the past two years, the motivation for the shooting remained a mystery - or at least not public knowledge - while the case plodded through the justice system. But Herewini opened up about the incident as reports were made in preparation for his sentencing.

Teratutonu Herewini, a high-ranking Tribesmen gang member accused of the attempted murder of his gang leader, appears in court. Dion "Buzz" Snell was shot multiple times during a rugby league celebration in November 2022. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Like too many children who’ve grown up in households marred by drugs and violence, he was attracted to gang life at a young age and began committing crimes with a street gang by 13, the judge said. His parents joined the Mormon church when he was 10 and his father is now a bishop. But although the drugs and violence stopped within his family, he had already been set on a path, the judge noted.

During his first lengthy stint in custody, for a kidnapping during a burglary when he was a teenager, he joined the Killer Beez for what he said were safety reasons, Herewini told a report writer. Eventually, he graduated to being a patched member of the Tribesmen, which at the time had been a natural progression for many of the younger men in the Killer Beez.

But by 2022, relations between the Tribesmen and the former feeder gang had chilled. Herewini, by this time having racked up a criminal resume of 40 convictions and multiple prison stints, was wary. He told report writers he wanted to focus on making things up to his family, and to making sure they didn’t get caught up in the crossfire of needless violence.

“It’s not easy to leave gangs. He tried,” defence lawyer Ish Jayanandan said on Friday.

“The fact that he’s still trying ... [shows] a genuine intention to stay out of trouble.”

Words were exchanged between the sergeant-at-arms and the president as Herewini expressed a desire to walk away from the gang and things quickly got heated but the shooting was not pre-meditated, Jayanandan said.

This image of Tribesmen member Dion Charles Snell was released by police in 2004. Snell, who went on to become the gang's president, was shot in South Auckland in November 2022.

Jayanandan maintained, at the insistence of her client, that it’s still not certain who fired the shots. But the judge said she could only base her sentence decision on Herewini’s guilty plea and what he agreed to in the summary of facts, which stated: “The defendant fired three shots in close succession whilst standing close to Mr Snell”.

Justice Wilkinson-Smith agreed there was no evidence the shooting had been planned far in advance. However, to bring a loaded weapon to a tense confrontation, even if there were no definitive plans to use it, surely had to count as a form of lesser pre-meditation, she said.

Snell was taken to Middlemore Hospital and underwent surgery for a shot to his arm. Another shot - to his chest - was described in court documents as “superficial”, but Justice Wilkinson-Smith said that did not mean it should not be characterised as “serious”.

“The shots you fired were not warning shots and they were not fired at limbs,” she said. “It was just luck the inflicted wounds were non-fatal.

“You are incredibly lucky, Mr Herewini, that you are not being sentenced for a homicide and Mr Snell is very lucky to be alive.”

Gang code commonly dictates that members not cooperate with authorities, even when they are deemed the victim of an offence. That appears to have been the case with Snell, who was released from hospital and spotted back on his motorbike just days later as the Tribesmen celebrated the 40th anniversary of their Ōtara chapter at a West Auckland winery.

Snell was not present in court.

The gallery was full, however, with family and supporters of the defendant. It was something the judge noted as she encouraged him to continue his goal of putting his criminal lifestyle behind him.

She noted he had not re-offended in seven years before the shooting, and although two of those years would have been while he was in prison it was no small feat given “the life you were living”. There were suggestions that Herewini, at this point in his life, was institutionalised - entrenched so deeply in the penal system that the hopes for reform had significantly dimmed.

“I think, Mr Herewini, before you give up you should look behind you,” the judge said, referring to the crowded gallery directly behind the dock.

She ordered an end sentence of six years in prison, a term that accounted for 25% in combined discounts for his late guilty plea, remorse, his troubled childhood and his prospects for rehabilitation.

An additional 10% discount had been applied for the harm to his children being without a father and acknowledging his psychological harm having to serve the prison term in isolation - his safety far from guaranteed if he was to be released in the general population.

“You said things got heated real fast and you do not remember what happened and you just reached for the gun,” the judge said, adding she did not accept that explanation as mitigating his crime. “I do accept, though, that leaving gangs can be fraught with risk and danger.”

Herewini turned around in the dock after the sentence was announced and smiled at the solemn family gathering taking place behind him, waving goodbye one last time as he was returned to the other place he has called home for much of his adult life.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.