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Offender Databases Anaru Mita

Anaru Taiheke Mita

Alias

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Offences

Four armed robberies in Mt Albert, Blockhouse Bay, Queen St and Henderson from June to July 1997
A number of previous convictions for kidnapping, minor driving and dishonesty offences

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

Allan Grant
Stanley Brown

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1963

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to twelve years in November 1997
Later reduced to eleven years on appeal

Background
EVENING POST, 5th March 1998
Frustrated and depressed at having to look after six children alone, Anaru Taiheke Mita committed four armed robberies in Auckland, the Court of Appeal has heard. Mita, 34, appealed the 12-year jail sentence he received after pleading guilty.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Auckland last week allowed the appeal and reduced the term to 11 years because the judge had mistakenly believed one of the robberies had been committed the day after Mita was released on bail. The judge had considered offending while on bail an aggravating factor to be reflected in the sentence. The court said the error was understandable in view of the sequence of events in the material before the judge, and an error in the summary of facts about the date of one of the robberies.

Mita committed the four robberies within a month, taking $6124 from the Mt Albert ANZ branch on June 24, $12,655 from the ASB branch in Blockhouse Bay on July 14, items valued at $137,000 from a Queen St antiques shop on July 21, and the last on July 23 of the National Bank in Henderson when about $8000 was stolen. Each time Mita had a sawn-off shotgun.

Mita later said the stolen property had passed into other hands and he had no access to it. Mita told a probation officer he was depressed at having to care for his six children alone for three years.Mita said he committed the robberies out of sheer frustration of going nowhere and struggling with six children. At the age of eight years Mita had seen his mother murder his father.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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