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Gregory Anderson
.
Grevious bodily harm of a Stoke man in early 1999
.
.
none known
Born 1965
At large
Sentenced to five years in October 1999
Released October 2002
Background
From the Nelson Mail, Oct 2, 1999
A Stoke man who participated in a "premeditated and calculated attack'' on another man was sent to prison yesterday for 3 years six months by the Nelson District Court.
Gregory Hohepa Joseph Anderson, 34, a stevedore, appeared for sentencing after earlier admitting a charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on June 9. Judge Chris Tuohy said in a ``premeditated and calculated attack'', Anderson and three others tricked the victim into going to a remote forestry block where they were waiting for him.
When he arrived, they beat and stabbed him using a bar, weighted sock, bat and knife, causing serious injuries to the man, including a fractured pelvis, broken arm, bruising and cuts. Judge Tuohy said the attack was allegedly in retribution for something the man did against one of Anderson's family. After the attack, Anderson and his associates left the man lying there, where he spent the night before crawling to a roadside and flagging down help. The judge said the man could easily have died from his injuries and the cold, and as a result of the attack he was flown by rescue helicopter to hospital, where he spent two weeks.
The man now lived in fear of retribution. His family were also upset by the event. Judge Tuohy said Anderson had a history of criminal offences, but no serious violence convictions. He said the pre-sentence report showed Anderson did not have any remorse for the victim, only for the situation he was now in.
Defence counsel Garry Barkle said Anderson took no weapons with him, and that he found a piece of wood nearby and the knife on the man. Anderson admitted it was poor judgment to leave the man lying on the ground after the attack. Mr Barkle said Anderson had been described as a caring and reliable person, and he had the care of his children.
Hamish Riddoch, acting for the Crown, said Anderson and his associates took the law into their own hands and acted with a ``lynch mob mentality''. Along with the prison sentence, Judge Tuohy made a databank compulsion order for Anderson.
From the Nelson Mail, Feb 21, 2000
A High Court judge has added two years to a Stoke man's ``manifestly inadequate'' 3 year 6 month prison sentence for the brutal assault of a man in a remote forest near Motueka last year.
The sentencing judge, Chris Tuohy, said it was a ``premeditated and calculated attack'' on a man who was alleged to have done something to one of Anderson's family. Judge Tuohy said the four attackers then left the man lying in the forest where he spent the night before crawling to a roadside for help.
However, in the High Court in Nelson on Thursday, Justice Wild allowed an appeal by the Crown to have Anderson's penalty increased, adding a further two years to it. Justice Wild said a sentence should only be increased on a prosecution appeal ``if manifestly inadequate''. He said Judge Tuohy ``accurately and succinctly'' identified the aggravating and mitigating factors when determining the sentence for Anderson.
``The main issue on this appeal is whether the starting point adopted by the judge when imposing the sentence was correct as a matter of legal principle.'' Justice Wild said he assumed Judge Tuohy approached the sentencing with five years imprisonment in mind, but after considering the various factors and a credit for Anderson's guilty plea, he reduced it to 3 years six months.
Justice Wild said in his view the ``lowest starting point'' for sentencing was seven years, and with considerations and discounts he reduced it to 5 years six months. ``This case involved brutal, callous, vigilante justice warranting a strong denouncement from the court,'' the judge said. ``Not only must the respondent (Anderson) be severely punished, but a clear message must be sent out to others like-minded that society will not tolerate this type of behaviour.''
