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Offender Databases Clinton Hopa

Clinton Tuki Hopa

Alias

.

Offences

Assault on a 17 year old youth in Palmerston North in May 1997
Numerous other convictions for burglary and theft, most committed while on bail and on parole
A number of convictions for breaches of bail and periodic detention

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

Damian Wereta

Gang affiliations

Black Power

Age

Born 1980

Current Location

unknown

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 9 months prison in December 1997
Sentenced to corrective training in June 1997
Released May 1998

Background
From the Evening Standard 05/02/1998
A YOUTH who played a key role in the bashing that hastened formation of the Safe City Group, and then, while out on bail, stabbed a youth with scissors, was yesterday jailed for 30 months. Damian Karl Wereta, 17, was sentenced in Palmerston North District Court by Judge Barry Kerr. He and an associate, Clinton Tuki Hopa, were charged after the May 17 bashing of a 17-year-old in The Square. The victim suffered temporary paralysis from a brain injury. Wereta faced the more serious charge and was remanded for a deposition hearing. Hopa faced the lesser charge, which he admitted, and on June 19 was sentenced to corrective training.

On July 1, Wereta was sentenced to four months' jail for his role in a robbery at the Ashhurst Village Discounter on the day of the assault. Expert medical evidence prepared for a September 10 deposition hearing against Wereta suggested the blow that caused the serious injury to the victim was not delivered by Wereta. On that basis the charge against Wereta was reduced to one of injuring with intent, which he elected to defend against a judge alone. On September 18, counsel Mike Behrens applied to Judge Lynton Laing for bail. Wereta had served his robbery sentence, but was still on remand in custody for the bashing.

Judge Laing said that because the time Wereta had spent on custodial remand was the equivalent of having served an eight-month jail sentence for injuring with intent, he would grant bail. Police at that hearing said that in the terms used by the judge, they could not formally oppose bail. But they would not consent to it. Judge Laing bailed Wereta into the custody of his mother, noting that he did so "with great caution" and taking ito account public concerns about violent criminals who re-offended while on bail. That charge was later reduced to one of injuring with reckless disregard, and Wereta pleaded guilty before Judge Barry Lovegrove in December. In the interim, on October 19, Wereta committed a later-admitted assault in the carpark of a city supermarket while on bail.

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Corrections and Additional Information
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