Youth justice test case for teen robber

Young criminals cannot count on their youth saving them from an adult sentence, the Court of Appeal has said in a test case on youth justice principles.

The court has upheld a 2 ½-year jail term for a two-time teen robber.

It said youth alone might not justify any radical reduction in penalty for those under 17 if they are moved out of the Youth Court for sentencing.

The girl at the centre of the test case, Kuramihirangi Pouwhare, passed up a chance of parole in May and wants to wait to be reconsidered until March next year when she will be 18.

In the meantime Pouwhare has enrolled for correspondence classes and skills training.

At a Lower Hutt railway station on February 7 last year, she robbed an 18-year-old tourist, put her in a headlock and punched her three times in the face.

The victim pleaded for the return of her bag, which held her passport. Pouwhare threw it back after taking $180 and a cellphone.

While still going through the Youth Court on that charge, she and a 13-year-old girl took knives to rob a Whanganui dairy on July 12 last year. The 46-year-old shopkeeper was threatened and held while cigarettes and tobacco were taken.

The effect on the shopkeeper was emotionally and financially extreme. She sold her business in a depressed market, with its reputation for having been robbed twice. She had paid $120,000 for the shop and sold it for $58,000.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft had sentenced Pouwhare. He asked for resolution of a conflict in High Court cases that guide sentencing of youths sent to the District Court or High Court because of the seriousness of the offence or other factors.

The Court of Appeal says outside the Youth Court an offender's age will still sometimes be the decisive factor at sentencing but it would not always prevail.

In the Youth Court the law called for the most positive of orders to be made that strengthened and helped the youth make better choices, if possible with family support, the Court of Appeal said.

Sentencing principles were fundamentally different outside the Youth Court and included denouncing the offending, deterring the offender and others, and protecting the public.

But the Court of Appeal also said District Court and High Court judges were not limited in the sentencing discount they could give for an offender's youth.

- © Fairfax NZ News