Big jail sentences for gang veterans over killing of young father
Killed by fellow gang members - Codi Wilkinson was a young father of three. (Photo / Supplied)
Big jail sentences for gang veterans over killing of young father Sat, 10 Jul 2021, 1:28PM
Three long-time gang members from Hawke s Bay have been sentenced to jail terms of over 10 years for the killing of a fellow gang member, also from Hawke s Bay.
The sentences were imposed when Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Manawatu chapter president and former Hawke s Bay Unicorns rugby league representative Jeremiah Christopher Su a, 50, brother Mariota Su a, 45, and Quentin Joseph Moananui, also 45, appeared in the High Court in Palmerston North on Friday, Stuff reported.
Wilkinson was found two weeks after going missing with wounds likely made by a machete. Moananui represented himself at trial with the help of an amicus curiae, a court-appointed lawyer. He made various legal challenges against the case, including one after he was convicted following the jury trial. The final challenge was an application for a judicial review, which Moananui intended to serve on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Attorney-General David Parker and more. But they never got that far, with a registrar putting it before Justice Francis Cooke, QC, to be considered. The judge struck out the proceeding without hearing any legal arguments, finding it was an abuse of process.
Supplied
Codi Wilkinson was left for dead after senior Mongrel Mob members attacked him for stealing from a drug dealer. As Justice Helen Cull addressed the Su’a brothers and Moananui she acknowledged their upbringings as factors in their offending. To Moananui, Cull accepted that he, like the others, had gravitated towards gang life to find community. “It is clear that like your co-offenders you were drawn into the gang life for the support it provided to you in the face of a dysfunctional upbringing where you have limited cultural and emotional support.” Poverty, cultural alienation and limited support throughout their lives shown in their cultural and presentencing reports saw Cull reduce their sentences by 15 per cent.