Call it car-ma.
A 37-year-old Dunedin grandfather who took his neighbour’s vehicle for a joyride had his own car stolen by gang members just six days later, the Dunedin District Court heard this week.
The episode began a sequence of meth-fuelled events which resulted in Joseph Wiremu Turipa racking up nine convictions and being sentenced to two years behind bars.
His woes began on September 23 last year when he overheard a group of students next door discussing leaving a house key under a rock.
When they left, the defendant let himself in and gathered electronics, handbags and jewellery worth $7000.
Among the stolen haul was a key for a Volkswagen.
The court heard Turipa loaded items into the vehicle and eventually abandoned it in Mosgiel, where police found it — moderately damaged — several days later.
When the defendant visited his partner to find his own car had been taken by members of the Tribesmen gang, he headbutted a hole in her wall.
Just days later he returned to her home and became enraged to find the back door was locked.
After forcing it open, breaking the chain, Turipa threw his partner into a wall and chased her down as she fled the address. Court documents described how he dragged her inside and continued the attack, "standing on her ankle so that she could not crawl away from him".
On October 18 came the final violent chapter.
While walking along Princes St, the couple became involved in a "heated’’ argument, which sparked the concern of a bystander.
The good Samaritan intervened but Turipa continued up High St, where the verbal altercation escalated.
The defendant’s yelling reached such levels that the victim curled into a ball on the footpath, the court heard.
Another passer-by confronted Turipa, prompting an explosive response.
He kicked and punched the victim in the head and legs "numerous times" and caught the attention of firefighters attending a nearby incident.
When police arrived, Turipa’s belligerence continued as he told the two officers he would "f... both yous up".
The defendant was finally arrested after being threatened with a Taser and pepper spray.
A search turned up a metal knuckle-duster in a small bag across his chest.
"The problem we’re dealing with here is a man that’s addicted to meth," Turipa’s counsel, John Westgate, said.
He said his client himself fairly summarised the situation.
"I’m 37 years old and a grandfather and I’m saying to myself ‘I need help’," Turipa said.
But Judge Large noted the man had spent time at a Dunedin rehabilitation facility in 2019, which reached an ignoble end.
Turipa progressed through the programme but after eight months his attitude became "entitled and arrogant" until he was kicked out.
With 120 people on the waiting list, he would have to convince them he was worthy of another chance, the judge said.
