Young men sought out victims

Three men cruised around North Island towns deliberately targeting people to assault and rob, the New Plymouth District Court heard.

The last of the three to be sentenced, Knicke Ian Richard Graham, 20, was sentenced to 2½ years in jail for his part in the violent spree.

Graham had been in custody, having earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting a man in Eltham on February 4 last year, assaulting a man with intent to injure him in Te Awamutu on February 5 and the aggravated robbery of a third in New Plymouth on February 7.

Two further counts of aggravated robbery he was initially charged with were withdrawn.

Judge Allan Roberts said Graham and others had been cruising through various centres in the North Island looking for trouble. It was an all-too-familiar pattern where they set out to identify vulnerable people to assault, intimidate and rob.

"It is the incidents in Te Awamutu and New Plymouth that really register with me," the judge said.

Graham's convictions for burglaries, thefts and assaults had tragically led him to be sentenced to imprisonment on nine previous occasions, the judge said.

His pre-sentence report noted he had shown no remorse or victim empathy.

Sentencing Graham to 2½ years' jail, the judge said he had discounted the time because it was undesirable to imprison young men for lengthy periods.

- © Fairfax NZ News