EDITORIAL NOTE: NO SUPPRESSION APPLIED.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT
AT PALMERSTON NORTH
CRI-2016-054-001987
[2016] NZDC 21373
NEW ZEALAND POLICE
Prosecutor
v
MAIKARA RANGITANI BROUGHTON
Defendant
Hearing:
25 October 2016
Appearances:
Sergeant S Oram for the Prosecutor
M Anderson for the Defendant
Judgment:
25 October 2016
NOTES OF JUDGE S B EDWARDS ON SENTENCING
[1]
Maikara Broughton, at the age of 19 you appear for sentence on two charges
of burglary, seven charges of unlawfully taking motor vehicles and 10 charges of
unlawfully interfering with motor vehicles. You also face a charge, which you have
pleaded guilty to today, of wilful damage. You and a fellow prisoner damaged two
cell windows, a light fitting and a chair in a holding cell at Linton Prison.
[2]
The first and most serious offence is the burglary you and a co-offender
committed on 19 June. You entered a residential property in Dannevirke in the early
hours of that Sunday morning. You originally went there to get petrol from an
outside fuel storage container but then went to the main house because you thought
the occupants were not there. You searched a bedroom, then opened a hallway
cupboard door and found six firearms inside the cupboard. You took the firearms
NEW ZEALAND POLICE v MAIKARA RANGITANI BROUGHTON [2016] NZDC 21373 [25 October 2016]
and then were disturbed by one of the occupants who was asleep in another
bedroom. The two of you left with four firearms.
[3]
The couple who live in that address are farmers in their seventies. The
husband has lived there for his entire life. There is a victim impact statement from
the wife which says she has always felt safe in her own home but after that night she
felt she had to stay elsewhere. There was a small amount of damage caused but her
main concern was for her personal safety. She said that she understood that one of
you, I do not know whether it was you or your co-offender, had been on the farm to
cut firewood in the past.
[4]
The other burglary was of a vacant house in Dannevirke. You and your
co-offender graffitied and otherwise damaged the house and used it as a place to
ditch the large number of cars that you stole on an offending spree between
8 and 11 July. The victim impact statement from the owner of that property talks
about the damage you did to his property. It has set back his timetable for moving
into the house. He has been inconvenienced by that. While the property was
insured, it annoys him to think that something he has worked hard to get, and paid
for, you think you can come along and treat as you please.
[5]
Between 8 and 11 July you and your co-offender stole seven cars to go
joyriding and then interfered with or tried to steal or otherwise damaged another
10 cars. Each and every one of those victims has made a victim impact statement.
They all talk about the inconvenience caused to themselves, their wives and partners
and to their young families; of being stranded, unable to get to work or meet family
commitments without their cars. Many of them express concern that they have been
left to pay for the damage insurance did not cover, and do not understand why it is
that you and your co-offender would think you had the right to cause all of these
Dannevirke families so much stress and inconvenience. Some of the victims were at
work when you took their cars; one working at the Dannevirke Community Hospital.
Some victims were elderly and for them their cars represent their independence.
[6]
There are only a handful of the victims who are seeking reparation but you
will be required to pay those amounts on your release from prison.
[7]
For someone of only 19 you have already amassed a significant criminal
history. You have seven previous convictions for burglary since 2014, two previous
for unlawfully taking motor vehicles and four convictions for other thefts. You have
been sentenced to community-based sentences and to imprisonment and none of
these sentences appear to have had any deterrent effect. Even while you have been
on remand at Linton Prison you and another prisoner damaged your prison cell. You
told police it was because the Corrections Officers would not give you back your
television.
[8]
The pre-sentence report notes that no sentences that have been imposed on
you to date have managed to challenge your sense of entitlement. You are assessed
as being unwilling and unable to comply with community-based sentences. You are
assessed as posing high risk of harm to the community and at a high risk of
re-offending. I agree with that assessment. In many ways it is a pessimistic report
because without you making some major changes to your behaviour there is no
doubt that you will continue to offend and incur longer and longer sentences of
imprisonment. Given your age, that is of very real concern.
[9]
There are programmes available within prison which it is proposed you
attend and you have indicated through counsel a willingness to undergo those
programmes. However, what you make of your time in prison, Mr Broughton, is
entirely a matter for you, as is what pathway you take on your release.
[10]
I consider the appropriate starting point for the first and most serious burglary
is 15 months’ imprisonment. There must be an uplift to reflect the second burglary
and in my view it should be three months, making a total of 18 months’
imprisonment.
I consider the appropriate overall starting point for all of the
offending involving the motor vehicles between 8 and 11 of July is 18 months’
imprisonment. That takes the total to three years imprisonment.
[11]
One might normally expect someone of your age to be given a discount for
youth. It is now well known and accepted that young men exercise poor judgment
and poor decision making until they reach maturity. However, in your case that must
be balanced against the fact that you have a significant number of previous
convictions, in particular for burglary, over a relatively short time and that you
committed these offences while you were subject to prison release conditions.
[12]
In my view those factors balance each other out and I am not allowing you
any discount for youth. However, nor am I going to uplift that three year overall
starting point to reflect your previous record, which would be warranted in the case
of an older offender.
[13]
You are entitled to a discount for your guilty pleas. They were entered at an
early opportunity. This reduces the end sentence to 27 months or two years and three
months’ imprisonment.
[14]
The wilful damage while you were in custody must be dealt with by way of a
cumulative sentence. The sentence must act to deter you and others from continuing
to offend even after you are incarcerated. I impose a one month cumulative sentence
for the wilful damage.
This brings the total to two years and four months
imprisonment.
[15]
The sentences are imposed as follows:
(a)
For the burglary of the occupied property in Dannevirke (CRN 2215),
you are sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment.
(b)
For the second burglary, that is the vacant property (CRN 2724), you
are sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, concurrent.
(c)
On each of the seven charges of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle,
you are sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. Those sentences are
concurrent with each other but each of them is cumulative on the
15 months imposed for the burglary at Cowper Road.
(d)
On each of the 10 charges of unlawfully interfering with a
motor vehicle you are sentenced to six months’ imprisonment,
concurrent.
(e)
On the wilful damage charge, you are sentenced to one month’s
imprisonment, cumulative on CRN 2689, which is the first of the
unlawfully taking a motor vehicle charges.
[16]
This makes that a total of two years and four months’ imprisonment.
[17]
I am not imposing any release conditions. The sentence is over two years so
both your release and what parole conditions are to apply on your release will be
matters for the Parole Board to determine.
[18]
There remains the issue of reparation, which is ordered on the following
CRNs and for the following amounts:
[19]
(a)
CRN 2693, $300.
(b)
CRN 2702, $300.
(c)
CRN 2695, $153.75.
(d)
CRN 2696, $160.
All of those amounts can be paid in instalments, to be arranged on your
release from prison.
S B Edwards
District Court Judge