King Country Mongrel Mob member Maehe Muraahi tells the victim he has a gun on him as they walk down a Te Kuiti street during the October 2022 attack and kidnapping. Image / Supplied
King Country Mongrel Mob member Maehe Muraahi tells the victim he has a gun on him as they walk down a Te Kuiti street during the October 2022 attack and kidnapping. Image / Supplied
A man kidnapped, robbed, and beaten by a group of Mongrel Mob members says he spent the first 18 months after the attack “wary” about walking outside.
The victim, who did not want to be named, told NZME the October 2022 attack had “constantly played on my mind” and it had only been in the past six months he had begun “feeling okay”.
Patched Mongrel Mob members Tumahuki Te Whatu and Jacob Wirepa, have been jailed for their roles and yesterday it was the turn of Maehe Muraahi, 30, to find out his fate before Judge Noel Cocurullo in the Hamilton District Court.
A fourth associate, and gang prospect, Verdi Karetu-Hawera, will be sentenced in January.
The victim, who is not connected to any gang, had been drinking with workmates at the Riverside Bar in Te Kūiti the night before.
A group of women asked to borrow jumper leads and he offered his and helped start their car. Later, he asked one of the women for a ride home and gave her $20.
The next morning, he realised he had left his keys in her car and arranged to return them.
He was instead confronted by Muraahi, who told him he had a pistol in his pocket and how “important he was as a patched gang member”.
He forced the victim to walk with him to a house in Tawa St texted before they left and drove to park outside the Waitomo Club.
Muraahi, who was wearing the victim’s $700 watch, which he took from his car, unsuccessfully called, then texted an associate saying, “SFU ANSWER THE PHONE ITS SKARDOGG BOP”.
The pair spoke but Muraahi’s associate appeared unimpressed and the conversation became heated.
The co-accused then kicked the victim out of the car and told him to run before the “other guys” got there.
The victim went into the Waitomo Club and told some associates what happened, before heading to a friend’s house and then getting a call on his Apple watch. He arranged to meet the caller outside the Muster Bar.
As the victim walked there he noticed his work car driving towards him and waved it down.
Inside were Wirepa and Te Whatu who got out and asked him to sign his vehicle over to them as payment.
The victim said he couldn’t as it was a work vehicle, but feeling threatened and concerned for his safety, he offered the pair money instead.
Wirepa demanded $1000 but the victim could only withdraw $225 and needed his phone back so he could transfer money for a larger withdrawal.
King Country Mongrel Mob member Maehe Muraahi tells the victim he has a gun on him as they walk down a Te Kuiti street during the October 2022 attack and kidnapping.
Karetu-Hawera then arrived, demanded the victim’s Apple watch, and patted him down, taking his sunglasses, tobacco, coins, and watch. He told the victim not to tell “the pigs” that he’d robbed him, before leaving.
Wirepa and Te Whatu then got into the car with the victim, and Te Whatu struck him round the face using the back of his hand and told him to transfer or withdraw money for them.
Muraahi then turned up with his mobile phone and sat in the car, behind the victim, then began punching him in the head multiple times before leaving.
Wirepa and Te Whatu then drove the victim to the Te Kuiti Library, then going to an ATM on Rora St where the victim eventually managed to run to freedom.
‘A bit overwhelming’
Although Karetu-Hawera was still to be sentenced, he did not play a significant part in what happened that day, so the victim, felt as though the main players had been dealt with.
It had taken 26 months, but the process had not been too arduous as police had kept him up to date throughout proceedings.
“Although last night I was kind of overwhelmed a little bit, I guess, but if somebody had told me I would still be dealing with this two years later, I’d be like, ‘yeah, right’.
The victim said the incident “had constantly played on my mind” for the first 18 months, so much so that he was always looking over his shoulder and was petrified walking outside.
Particularly Muraahi’s behaviour, which he blamed for “basically causing all this”.
“He was the one who turned violent.”
Muraahi punched him multiple times in the head in the car while wearing knuckledusters.
“I thought the next [hit] was going to kill me. In that respect, it was horrific.”
Muraahi’s lawyer Gerard Walsh produced an “absolute avalanche” of certificates his client had gained since being in custody.
“You have quite a different person before you than what you did October two years ago,” Walsh said, adding Muraahi had “started on a road of realistic change”.
Judge Cocurullo accepted most of Walsh’s submissions but said the issue Muraahi had to face was that the “gun and violence is attributable to him”.
Walsh pointed out that a co-defendant faced more charges and added the unlawful detention in the car was for a “limited period”.
He pushed for an end sentence of around two years.
Judge Cocurullo told Muraahi he was responsible for the violence and gun, and after taking a start point of four years, applied various discounts before jailing him for three years.
Wirepa was jailed for two years and five months, while Te Whatu was jailed for two years.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.
