R v Paul
[2025] NZHC 1192
•16 May 2025
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY
I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE
CRI-2023-092-004586
[2025] NZHC 1192
THE KING v
HAUPAPA SNOWY PAUL
Hearing: 16 May 2025 Appearances:
K Karpik (for A Al-Janabi) for Crown D B Stevens for Defendant
Sentence:
16 May 2025
SENTENCING REMARKS OF LANG J
Solicitors/counsel:
Crown Solicitor, Manukau D B Stevens, Auckland
R v PAUL [2025] NZHC 1192 [16 May 2025]
[1] Mr Paul, you appear for sentence having pleaded guilty to, or having been found guilty on, two charges of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle1 and two charges of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of others.2 You have also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to commit murder.3
[2] The maximum sentence on each charge of recklessly discharging a firearm is seven years’ imprisonment whilst the maximum sentence on each of the charges of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle is two years’ imprisonment. The maximum sentence on the charge of conspiring to murder is ten years’ imprisonment.
[3] Following a judge-alone trial in February 2025 I found you guilty on one charge of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle and one charge of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of others.4 You had earlier pleaded guilty to the remaining charges. I therefore base my sentencing remarks on the summary of facts for the charges to which you have entered guilty pleas and the evidence heard at trial for the remaining charges.
Background
[4] The charges were laid as a result of incidents that occurred during a period of ongoing hostilities between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen motorcycle gangs. You are a patched member of the Killer Beez gang.
[5] Between 21 May and 10 June 2022, a series of incidents occurred in which members and associates of each gang discharged firearms at residential addresses that were believed to be occupied by persons associated with the opposing gang. Several houses were also set on fire. In total, there were 27 shooting incidents and 11 instances of arson during this period.
1 Crimes Act 1961, s 226(2).
2 Section 198(2).
3 Section 175.
4 R v Paul [2025] NZHC 246.
Involvement in Flat Bush shooting
[6] At approximately 6.50 pm on 24 May 2022, you and three others drove to an address in Flat Bush in a stolen Mitsubishi Colt motor vehicle. The vehicle stopped outside a residential address that was known to be occupied by a well-known patched member of the Tribesmen gang. You and your associates then discharged at least eight shots towards the address outside which you were parked. These damaged a vehicle parked in the driveway of the address, as well as brickwork on the side of a garage adjacent to the parked vehicle. Shots were fired from three firearms, two of which were shotguns.
[7] You and your associates left the address after the occupants returned fire, causing damage to neighbouring properties and vehicles. The stolen Mitsubishi Colt was found abandoned approximately 750 metres away. You and your associates had been driven away from that location in another vehicle that had arrived approximately five minutes earlier. When the police examined the stolen Mitsubishi Colt, they found spent shotgun shells on the front and rear passenger seats.
Involvement in Henderson shooting
[8] Approximately four hours after the Flat Bush shooting you and some associates drove to an address in Henderson, where you parked up the driveway. A person associated with the Tribesmen had earlier been living at that address with his then partner and her young children. However, he was not living at the address on 24 May 2022.
[9] The female occupant of the address was in bed when your vehicle arrived. She went to the bedroom window after she heard a vehicle revving its engine loudly in the driveway of the address. She moved the blind to look outside and saw the figure of a person clothed in black standing behind the gate in her driveway. Several shots were then fired at her house, one of which passed through the bedroom window close to where the occupant was standing. It was sufficiently close for her to feel the wind of shotgun pellets as they travelled through the window past her head and then embedded in the wall of the bedroom. The vehicle then drove away.
[10] When the police arrived at the address a short time later, they found four spent shotgun shells in the driveway, together with wadding from shotgun cartridges. In addition to the damage to the bedroom window, they found damage to a wooden boundary fence and a wire fence at the end of the driveway. They also found damage to the bedroom window framing and brickwork below another window. A closed- circuit television camera mounted on the wall of the address had also been destroyed.
[11] You were subsequently arrested on the evening of 26 May 2022, after you were found travelling in a vehicle that failed to stop when requested by the police to do so. Thereafter you remained in custody.
Involvement in conspiracy to murder
[12] The charge of conspiracy to murder was laid as a result of events that occurred after 25 May 2022, the evening of which a firearm was aimed and discharged at your house. You came to believe this had been organised by the same person associated with the Tribesmen gang who you believed was living at the Henderson address you and your associates discharged firearms at on 24 May 2022. You decided to kill this person and you engaged in a series of telephone conversations from prison with another person who you enlisted to assist you in this endeavour. At this stage of course you were in custody and the conversations were captured on telephone calls monitored by the Department of Corrections.
[13] The conspiracy remained in effect for approximately 30 hours. Matters had progressed to the point where the person you engaged to carry out the murder had organised transport to enable him to carry out the killing. The conspiracy came to an end because members of the hierarchy in your gang found out what you were doing and put a stop to it.
Starting point
[14] You are effectively to be sentenced on three sets of charges. I take the most serious of these to be the charges relating to the shooting that occurred at the Henderson property on the evening of 24 May 2022. This could easily have had tragic
consequences given the proximity of the occupant of the address to the point where shotgun pellets entered her home through the window.
[15] As with the events giving rise to the remaining charges, this offending has several aggravating factors. First, the offences were committed in a gang-related context because they formed part of a prolonged period of intergang warfare. This became a matter of significant public concern because it placed innocent members of the public at risk of death and serious injury. Secondly, all three sets of charges were premeditated in the sense that they were planned events. You were part of a group that specifically targeted homes or persons you believed to be connected to the Tribesmen. You used stolen vehicles to minimise the risk of detection.
[16] The Crown has urged me to adopt the same approach as that taken by Downs J when he gave you, Mr Vincent Toby and Mr Desmond Hiko sentence indications on 30 October 2024.5 Downs J indicated in your case he would apply a starting point of seven and a half years’ imprisonment on all charges other than that of conspiracy to murder. He would add an uplift of one year to reflect that charge. In the case of Mr Hiko, Downs J said he would adopt a starting point of six years’ imprisonment to reflect his involvement in both shootings.
[17] As trial Judge I am not bound in any way by the approach taken by Downs J at the sentence indication stage. I must select an appropriate starting point based on the facts as I find them to be having presided at your trial. However, I derive significant assistance from the approach taken by Downs J when he sentenced Mr Joshua Baker and Mr Hiko, who were involved with you in both shooting incidents. In sentencing them, Downs J selected a starting point of four and a half years’ imprisonment on the charges relating to the Henderson shooting.6 He did so on the basis that they were present when shots were fired at the address where the female occupant was standing at the window. However, he accepted that they were not the leaders of the group. The Judge then added an uplift of 18 months to reflect the earlier shooting at Flat Bush. This led to an overall starting point for both Mr Baker and Mr Hiko of six years’ imprisonment.
5 R v Paul [2024] NZHC 3153.
6 R v Baker [2024] NZHC 3152 at [16]; R v Hiko [2025] NZHC 105 at [13].
[18] The uplift added to the earlier Flat Bush shooting obviously took into account totality principles. The same Judge subsequently sentenced Mr Toby, who was present with you at the Flat Bush shooting but not at the subsequent Henderson shooting. The Judge took a starting point for Mr Toby of four years’ imprisonment in relation to the Flat Bush shooting.7
[19] For the reasons set out in my verdicts, I am satisfied that you were a senior member of the Killer Beez gang at the time the present offending occurred.8 Your elevated status leads me to assess your culpability as being slightly higher than that of Mr Baker and Mr Hiko. However, the evidence does not leave me sure that you were the leader, or architect, of the shootings that occurred on 24 May 2022. I therefore adopt a starting point of five years’ imprisonment on the charge relating to the Henderson shooting.
[20] The starting point for the sentence to be imposed on the charges relating to the Flat Bush shooting would have been four and a half years’ imprisonment if those charges were considered on a stand-alone basis. As Downs J did in the case of Mr Hiko, I apply totality principles to reduce the sentence on that charge. I therefore add 20 months to reflect your involvement in the Flat Bush shooting. This leads to a combined starting point of six years eight months’ imprisonment before taking into account the charge of conspiracy to murder.
[21] When I sentenced your co-conspirator on that charge, I selected a starting point of two years six months’ imprisonment to reflect his culpability.9 The same starting point, or perhaps a greater one, would have been appropriate had you been facing this charge on a standalone basis. However, having regard to totality principles I propose to apply an uplift of 12 months to reflect your culpability in relation to the charge of conspiracy to commit murder. This means I have selected an overall starting point of seven years eight months’ imprisonment on all charges.
7 R v Toby [2024] NZHC 3804 at [14]–[15].
8 R v Paul, above n 4, at [44]–[46].
9 R v T [2024] NZHC 3554 at [11]. This person’s name and identifying particulars are currently suppressed from publication as he faces further charges in the District Court.
Aggravating factors
[22] The Crown submits that an uplift of four months is appropriate to reflect the fact that you have previous convictions for offending involving firearms and the infliction of violence on others. Your counsel takes no issue with this. I therefore add an uplift of four months to reflect this factor. This increases the sentence to one of eight years’ imprisonment.
Mitigating factors
Guilty pleas
[23] You are entitled to credit for the guilty pleas you entered to the charges relating to your involvement in the Flat Bush shooting and the charge of conspiracy to murder. In addition, you cooperated in ensuring that the trial of the charges relating to the Henderson shooting was completed within a very short space of time. This also ensured that the female occupant of the Henderson address was not required to give evidence. Both counsel agree that a discount of 15 per cent is appropriate to reflect these factors. This is to be applied to the uplifts I have identified for the charges to which you have entered guilty pleas.10
[24] This reduces the sentence by five months to one of seven years seven months’ imprisonment.
Personal and cultural background
[25] Your counsel has tendered reports under s 27 of the Sentencing Act 2002. I also have the benefit of a pre-sentence report. These reports provide me with valuable insight into your upbringing and other factors relevant to your background. It is clear from the reports that you were born into a family facing challenging circumstances.
10 After concluding my sentencing remarks I advised counsel, in answer to a query by Mr Stevens, that the discount for co-operation in shortening the trial was included in that for guilty pleas. I accept this is not an orthodox approach in terms of sentencing principle. However, as I advised Mr Stevens during the hearing, I consider Mr Paul is effectively receiving a double discount through receiving a discount for guilty pleas to a sentence that has already been significantly reduced to reflect totality principles. Notwithstanding this, I followed the same approach in relation to guilty plea discount as that taken by Downs J in the case of Mr Hiko and Mr Baker.
Drug-related issues were prominent for your mother and your father was entirely absent during your upbringing.
[26] You went to live with your grandmother in a rural location at an early age and she provided you with a caring environment until she sadly passed away when you were 12 years of age. At that point you moved back to Auckland where you were again in the care of your mother. You then became exposed to strong gang influences by your stepfather. Your environment during this stage was described by one report writer as being “saturated with drugs, alcohol, violence and gang involvement”.
[27] You were introduced to the use of violence on a regular basis soon after you returned to Auckland. Over time, your exposure to violence in and around your home environment desensitised you to the infliction of violence to others. I accept your counsel’s submission that you were essentially recruited into a life of violence by others in and around that environment. Inevitably, you became immersed in gang life. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in you spending a large part of your adolescence and teenage years residing in youth justice facilities. This ensured your closest friends and associates were gang members who, like you, viewed and valued violence as a means of control, expression and survival. By the age of 18 years, you were a fully-fledged member of the Killer Beez gang and you are now a senior member of that gang. This has led directly to the situation in which you now find yourself.
[28] I have no doubt that the factors identified in the reports have a direct correlation with the present offending. I therefore propose to apply a discount of 12 months, or approximately 13 per cent, to reflect those factors.
Remorse and rehabilitative efforts
[29] Your counsel also contends you should be given a discount to reflect rehabilitative efforts you have made whilst in prison, together with the remorse you have expressed to the writers of the reports. You have also expressed remorse in letters you have tendered today through your counsel addressed to the victims of your offending. I accept that these expressions of remorse are genuine.
[30] However, at this stage you remain entrenched in the gang environment. You have expressed some desire to change and say you are investigating the possibility of having your tattoos removed as a starting point in this process. You say you want to spend time with your son whom you have been away from for three years whilst in custody on these charges. Realistically, you acknowledge disengagement from the gang will be a very challenging process. Your ultimate prospects of rehabilitation therefore remain highly uncertain at this stage. However, I am sure that you appreciate that your only real hope of remaining offence-free in the future is to disengage from the gang environment as difficult as that will be. I propose to allow a discount of five months, or just over five per cent, to reflect your remorse and rehabilitative prospects.
[31] The deductions I have identified for mitigating factors reduce your sentence by 22 months, leading to an end sentence of six years two months’ imprisonment.
Sentence
[32] On the charge of discharging a firearm with reckless disregard to the safety of others in the Henderson shooting you are sentenced to six years two months’ imprisonment. On the same charge in relation to the Flat Bush shooting you are sentenced to three years four months’ imprisonment.
[33] On each of the charges of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle, you are sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. On the charge of being a party to a conspiracy to commit murder you are sentenced to ten months’ imprisonment. You are to serve all sentences concurrently.
Minimum term of imprisonment
[34] In any case where the Court sentences an offender to two years’ imprisonment or more, it has the discretion to impose a minimum term of imprisonment.11 It may do so where the usual parole provisions are not sufficient to reflect the sentencing principles of deterrence, the need to hold the offender accountable, the need to denounce the offending and the need to protect the community.12 The Crown suggests
11 Sentencing Act 2002, s 86(1).
12 Section 86(2).
that, given your seniority in the gang, consideration should be given to imposing a minimum term of imprisonment in your case.
[35] None of your co-defendants has received a minimum term of imprisonment to date. Had it been established that you were the leader of the group responsible for the shootings, or that you were the architect of those events, it may have been appropriate to impose a minimum term of imprisonment. However, as I have already recorded, I cannot be sure that this is the case. I therefore leave it to the parole authorities to determine when you should be released from prison.
Lang J