Meet a zero striker #6
Wiremu Allen is a Third Striker. He has more than 60 criminal convictions, including for aggravated robbery. He has been a member of both the Mongrel Mob and the King Cobras gangs. For his first strike, he strangled his partner. Fortunately she survived. For his second strike, he committed a robbery. For his third strike, with […]
The post Meet a zero striker #6 first appeared on Kiwiblog.
Wiremu Allen is a Third Striker. He has more than 60 criminal convictions, including for aggravated robbery.
He has been a member of both the Mongrel Mob and the King Cobras gangs.
For his first strike, he strangled his partner. Fortunately she survived.
For his second strike, he committed a robbery.
For his third strike, with an associate, he committed a home invasion armed with pistols. He bashed the victim and his associate shot the victim in the knee, before robbing him and fleeing the scene. He was sentenced to the maximum term of 7 years imprisonment for the Third Strike conviction for wounding with reckless disregard.
But under the Government’s proposed re-introduction of Three Strikes 2.0, he will be on a clean slate. His prior strike offences count for nothing, and he is a zero striker.
Just as bad, under the Government’s proposed Three Strikes 2.0, Mr Allen would not qualify as a Third Striker if he did it all again!
This is because it is proposed that a person would only be a striker if they had been sentenced to more than 24 months imprisonment for all strike offences.
For Mr Allen’s first strike offence – injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – he was only sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. For his second strike offence – robbery – he was sentenced to just 13 and a half months imprisonment.
Neither meet the Government’s threshold to be considered a striker AT ALL!
Now this is where it gets interesting:
Two years ago, a: prominent politician opined:
“It is unimaginable that offenders such as Wiremu Allen, who was convicted of a third strike offence which entailed breaking into a house, demanding money from the victim and then shooting him, would not receive the maximum mandatory sentence today.
“Labour’s soft on crime approach has made New Zealand a less safe country.
“Victim advocate groups submitted strongly against the repeal, noting more victims will be created by the Bill. Repealing Three Strikes means that offenders will be back in the community earlier, creating the conditions for more offending.
“National will reinstate Three Strikes. This legislation is necessary to ensure repeat offenders are sentenced in line with the expectations of the communities they want to live in.”
Who was that politician? Well, it was none other than the National Party’s Justice Spokesman, Paul Goldsmith, who is now the Justice Minister!!! Three Strikes repeal makes New Zealand less safe (national.org.nz)
Two years after making the above statement, Paul Goldsmith of 2024 should listen to Paul Goldsmith of 2022, not Ministry of Justice officials who hate three strikes.
You can sign up for campaign updates to toughen the law and support the campaign at https://www.stop3strikessellout.nz.
You can make a submission at https://www.stop3strikessellout.nz/submission
The post Meet a zero striker #6 first appeared on Kiwiblog.