R v Pukepuke - [2023] NZHC 3700

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND TAURANGA REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TAURANGA MOANA ROHE

CRI-2021-070-4281

[2023] NZHC 3700

THE KING

v

DANE MARK PUKEPUKE

Hearing: 14 December 2023

Appearances:

R W Jenson and C Houia for Crown S McColgan for Defendant

Sentence:

14 December 2023

SENTENCING REMARKS OF LANG J

Solicitors/counsel:
Pollett Legal Ltd, Tauranga
S McColgan, Barrister, Auckland

R v PUKEPUKE [2023] NZHC 3700 [14 December 2023]

[1] Mr Pukepuke, you appear for sentence having pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr David Kuka. Mr Kuka was shot and killed at the address where he was living in Tauranga on the evening of 11 February 2018.

[2] There is no dispute that you must be sentenced to life imprisonment.1 The only other issue I am required to determine today is the minimum term of imprisonment you should be required to serve before being eligible to apply for parole.

Background

[3] You pleaded guilty at your first appearance in this Court. At that stage no summary of facts had been agreed with the Crown. You disputed aspects of the summary of facts. It has therefore been agreed that I should sentence you on the facts as I found them to be on the evidence given at the trial of your three co-defendants in September 2023. Mr Belmont, Mr Rewiri and Mr Wright were charged with being parties to Mr Kuka’s murder but were acquitted of that offence. Their trial gave me a good insight into the events that led to Mr Kuka’s death.

[4] You disputed the suggestion by the Crown that you killed Mr Kuka as a premeditated act by way of retribution on behalf of the Mongrel Mob gang for the fact that a member of Mongrel Mob, Mr Lance Waite, had been shot and killed at Mr Kuka’s address on 3 January 2018. I heard submissions on that issue on 11 December 2023 and issued written factual findings later the same day.2 I now sentence you in accordance with those findings, which will also be annexed to and form part of these remarks.

[5] There was no dispute at trial that you and your co-defendants were members of the Mongrel Mob gang. Mr Rewiri and Mr Wright belonged to the Tauranga chapter of the gang whilst Mr Belmont and you belonged to a chapter in the central North Island. Mr Rewiri was senior in status to Mr Wright and Mr Belmont was senior in status to you.

[6] It was also common ground that on 3 January 2018 another member of the Mongrel Mob, Mr Lance Waite, was shot and killed at the address in Wilrose Place,

1 Sentencing Act 2002, s 102(1).
2 R v Pukepuke [2023] NZHC 3619.

Tauranga where Mr Kuka was living and was subsequently shot. You attended Mr Waite’s tangi in Hawkes Bay on 8 and 9 January 2018.

[7] During the weeks following the shooting of Mr Waite, Mr Belmont travelled to Tauranga on two occasions.…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Pukepuke

Details

AGLC: R v Pukepuke [2023] NZHC 3700
Case: [2023] NZHC 3700
Decision Date: 14 December 2023

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Dane Mark Pukepuke appeared before the High Court of New Zealand Tauranga Registry to be sentenced for the murder of David Kuka, committed on 11 February 2018. Pukepuke had pleaded guilty to the murder charge. The court had to determine the minimum term of imprisonment Pukepuke should serve before being eligible to apply for parole. The court found that Pukepuke, a member of the Mongrel Mob gang, had premeditated the murder as an act of retribution for the shooting of another gang member, Lance Waite, at Kuka's address weeks earlier. The court rejected the argument that the murder was spontaneous, noting the planning involved, including the acquisition of a vehicle and a firearm, and the use of an alternative vehicle to avoid detection. The court held that section 104(1) of the Sentencing Act 2002 applied, requiring a minimum term of imprisonment of at least 17 years due to the premeditated nature of the crime and the brutal manner in which it was executed. After considering mitigating factors such as Pukepuke's early guilty plea and his troubled background, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years before eligibility for parole.

Orders