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Offender Databases Colin Griffiths

Colin Frank Griffiths

Alias

.

Offences

Robbed a bank in 1991 and threatened to shoot customers, then attempted to rob the same bank a second time and fired shots at police in the bank

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

Michael Preston
Symon Manihera

Gang affiliations

Black Power

Age

unknown

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to ten years in mid-late 1992
Increased by the Crown in March 1993 to twelve years on appeal

Background
From the Sunday Star Times 7th May 2000
THE policeman who fired the shots that killed Steven Wallace in the main street of Waitara was one of four armed offenders squad members involved in a shootout with bank robbers in December 1991. The officer, still a member of the armed offenders squad, hit Wallace, 23, with four bullets after a confrontation in the Taranaki town. He was one of three police who responded to reports of a man carrying a softball bat and golf club smashing windows.

In the 1991 incident he was involved in a gunfight at the Moturoa bank in suburban New Plymouth. Police fired 11 shots and wounded one of the robbers. Three bullets passed through a window facing a street where the public walked and drove. The report of the Police Complaints Authority of the time, Sir Peter Quilliam, has not been released but he publicly expressed concern about the shooting, which he criticised as wild and uncontrolled. He also criticised the training for squad members in how to deal with unexpected confrontations by armed offenders.

Before the incident, police had been tipped off and lay in wait, with two posing as tellers. Justice Hillyer, who sentenced the robbers, said two men burst into the bank about 9am armed with a sawn- off shotgun and cut-down rifle. When challenged by police, one leapt on to the counter and police fired, a bullet grazing the robber's hip. The robber dropped his rifle and fled. The other offender, who was in another part of the bank, fired a shot when confronted, the police responding with a salvo of bullets, all of which missed. The offenders escaped from the bank but were caught after a chase involving police cars and a helicopter.

Michael Dexter Preston, described at the time as a New Plymouth Black Power gang leader, and Colin Frank Griffiths, were each sentenced to three years' jail for the attempted armed robbery, and six years for the armed robbery of the same bank six months earlier, in June 1991. David Maxwell Aperi, then 19, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years for firing at police, attempted armed robbery and possessing a pistol. Symon Manihera, also a member of Black Power's New Plymouth chapter, was jailed for four years for his part in the June robbery in which $33,000 was taken. In 1997, Manihera was one of four Black Power members convicted of the murder of Christopher Crean, shot through the front door of his home.

Crean witnessed an attack on an unarmed Mongrel Mob member by two Black Power members armed with a tomahawk and a slasher, and stuck to his resolve to testify despite threats from the gang. Manihera, who supplied the gun used to shoot Crean, is serving a minimum 14 years in jail and won't be eligible for parole until 2010. Dennis Richard Luke, who supplied the getaway driver, received the same sentence. It was his second murder conviction. Brownie Marsh Mane, who planned the killing, and Robert Shane Maru, who pulled the trigger, are serving a minimum 17 years in prison.

Meanwhile, it is considered extremely unlikely the policeman who shot Wallace will be able to return to Waitara, despite Central District commander Superintendent Mark Lammas saying he would be welcome back to police work. The officer moved out of the town to a secret location the day after the shooting. Police have hired a security firm to guard the home of the officer and that of other police who live in the town. Wallace's family yesterday consulted Queen's Counsel John Rowan and announced an independent inquiry fund was being established as they considered a private investigation into the shooting.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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