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Offender Databases Cleveland Martin

Cleveland Ngawhaka Martin

Alias

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Offences

Assault and grievous bodily harm on a Palmerston North man in June 2006
Bludgeoned another man with a metal pipe in Palmerston North causing grievous bodily harm in March 2007
Held a machete to a six year old boy's throat during an aggravated robbery of a food-market in Palmerston North in May 2005

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

Dwayne Martin
Windsor Martin

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1989

Current Location

Prison

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to two years in August 2005
Paroled May 2006, reoffended very soon after
Sentenced to 7 years with a 3 year 6 month non-parole period in March 2008
Sentenced to 7 years with a 3 year 6 month non-parole period in August 2009
Both terms cumulative - making a total of 14 years with a minimum 7 years before early release

Background
NZ Herald story here
"The boy was still traumatised by his ordeal, nearly three months after the robbery being afraid to go to the toilet alone."

From Manawatu Standard story August 2005
16-year-old who held a machete to a six year old's throat during a food-market robbery was yesterday sentenced to two years in prison - but it is unlikely he'll serve even a fraction of that in prison. Cleveland Martin was granted leave to apply for home detention by Judge Gregory Ross. The application could be heard in as early as a month's time, and given that Martin is a youth sentenced in an adult court, his chances of successfully gaining home detention are good.

From Manawatu Standard story March 2008
An "exaggerated sense of family loyalty" sent 19-year-old city twins to prison yesterday for a revenge attack in June, 2006. Windsor and Cleveland Martin appeared flanked by two prison guards in the dock at Palmerston North District Court. Each pleaded guilty to a charge of causing grievous bodily harm after a prolonged attack on a man with claw hammers, a paint scraper and bits of wood on Tremaine Avenue when they were 17. The complainant, now 26, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. An independent life for him, the Crown said, was not possible.

The man has since been certified by a clinical psychologist as having the brain function of a 4-year-old. He will have ongoing difficulties. "He's not the person he once was. "His son won't have the father he once had," Crown prosecutor Chris Shannon said. The court heard that Cleveland Martin had previous violent convictions. As a 16-year-old he committed an armed robbery with a machete on a dairy. He was on parole for this offence when the Tremaine Avenue attack took place. Meanwhile, Windsor Martin had committed a raft of offences since the attack. Andru Isac, lawyer for Windsor, said there was a degree of provocation to the attack.

The complainant and his mates had assaulted Windsor earlier that day prompting a much more serious retaliatory attack later on. "There's history between these men." The twins' actions reflected "youthful immaturity" and poor judgement, Mr Isac said. To a probation officer, Windsor had minimised his offending and said there was no alternative to solving the conflict other than using violence. Cleveland's lawyer, Glen Mason, said that at age 19 his client was too young to be "thrown away". "There must be some hope. He will be released one day."

His brother's assault had "inflamed the family feeling". The twins' young lives were dominated by a "Mongrel Mob dad" and multiple police visits to the family home. "There must have been a feeling in their minds that it was them against the world." If their sense of loyalty to each other was exaggerated, it was "understandable against that background", Mr Mason said. Judge Alastair Garland said both teenagers expressed little remorse. He sentenced Windsor to six years' jail and his twin to seven years, with a minimum non-parole period of three-and-a-half years. As they left the dock, the twins' mum told them she loved them.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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