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Offender Databases Shane Te Whata

Shane Te Whata

Alias

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Offences

Tried to stab his de facto wife to death in front of her 4 year old child in Whakatane in January 1998
Unlawful possession of firearms, selling cannabis, conspiracy to sell cannabis and offering methamphetamine to an undercover constable

Victims

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Offender Affiliations

Peter Gilbert
Robert Wiringi
Wayne Pohutuhutu
Richard Rymer
Rota Beattie
Whata Keefe
Brent Rowe
Martin Reuben
Lisa Howie
Mark Waitere
Pihama Tauroa

Gang affiliations

Mongrel Mob

Age

Born 1972

Current Location

Unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 7 years - attempted murder - in May 1998
Sentenced to 5 years in November 2004, later reduced to 3 years on appeal

Background
From the Press ( Christchurch ) 27/05/1998
A four-year-old saw a Whakatane man stab her mother 12 times with two knives which both snapped during the attack in the Eastern Bay of Plenty township.The ''frenzied'' stabbing earned the attacker, Shane Te Whata, 26, seven years imprisonment when he appeared for sentence in the High Court in Rotorua yesterday. Te Whata earlier pleaded guilty to attempting to murder the woman at Whakatane on January 27 this year.

Before sentencing Te Whata, Justice Paterson said the stabbing took place after Te Whata and the victim, his de facto partner of three years, returned from a party at a neighbour's house. Evidence was heard in depositions that the woman might have started an argument with Te Whata, an argument that become more aggressive. Te Whata used two different knives to stab the woman about 12 times in different parts of her body. Her injuries included three deep wounds in her throat.

The woman's daughter witnessed the attempted murder and ran from the house to get assistance. An elderly man then came into the house to help the woman, and stopped the attack from going any further.Justice Paterson said the impact on the victim included permanent scarring and chest pains because of injuries to one lung, and a troubled relationship with her daughter.

Te Whata's lawyer, Eddie Paul, said the attack was not premeditated and there had been growing conflict in his client's relationship with the victim in the eight months before the incident. The couple had been drinking alcohol over a period of nine hours at the party before the attack

From the Press ( Christchurch ) 09/11/2004
Three members of a major Christchurch drug dealing operation have been granted leave to apply to serve their prison sentences at home. They were among 15 Mongrel Mob members and associates convicted of a variety of charges in the biggest criminal trial in New Zealand legal history. Seven were sentenced last week and yesterday a further eight appeared for sentence in the High Court in Christchurch .

Yesterday, Pihama Tauroa, 29, was sentenced to 15 months in jail for his role in the Mongrel Mob conspiracy to supply cannabis, selling cannabis, dealing in P and hoarding guns and ammunition. Justice Panckhurst told Tauroa his "relatively minor role" in the operation, his limited previous convictions and his domestic circumstances had convinced him to allow Tauroa to apply for home detention.

Panckhurst also granted Mongrel Mob member Richard James Rymer, 42, and gang associate Pamela Wendy Bush, 40, leave to apply for home detention because of the small roles they played in the drug operation.

Rymer was sentenced to two years for conspiracy to supply cannabis, possessing cannabis and possession of ammunition. Justice Panckhurst told Rymer that despite his "strutting" he was clearly out of his depth in Mongrel Mob. Bush was sentenced to eight months for conspiracy to supply cannabis after she acted as a drug courier for Lisa Marie Howie, the "kingpin" of the operation. "I have no doubt you knew what you were about," Justice Panckhurst said, before deferring Bush's sentence for two months on humanitarian grounds.

Other Mongrel Mob members sentenced yesterday were Whata August Keefe, 3 1/2 years; Mongrel Mob president Joseph Robert Wiringi, four years and nine months to be served in addition to his nine years for a savage attack on a rival Black Power member; Wayne Pohutuhutu, 4 1/2 years; Brent Douglas Stanley Rowe, four years and nine months; Martin Henry Reuben, 4 1/2 years. Justice Panckhurst said the main charge the defendants faced was conspiracy to sell cannabis.

The Mongrel Mob headquarters in Wilsons Road had been modified for drug dealing and members worked a seven-day roster to sell drugs from a tinted window in the house. Justice Panckhurst said the prosecution estimated the gang made between $500 and $600 a day from the business. "It was indiscriminate organised crime," he said. "Cannabis was sold to anybody who went there. There were sales to young people and teenagers."

Detective Sergeant Ross Tarawhiti, the architect of the investigation, named Operation Crusade, said he was happy at how things had progressed.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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