A nine-year-old boy came to the aid of his father who was being beaten unconscious by two others in a gang-related home invasion. 

“This is a hit and it’s come from the captain ... you know what’s going to happen now,” the man was told before he was punched, kicked and struck in the head with a tyre iron, causing serious bleeding. 

When the boy tried to intervene by grabbing attacker Kaleb Rauwiri Hawkins’s clothes, he was kicked away, causing bruising to his leg. 

Hawkins then grabbed the boy’s 13-year-old brother by the collar, shoved him against a wall and told him: “Stay back, it’s over”. 

Hawkins, 23, appeared in the Napier District Court on Friday for sentencing on a charge of injuring the man with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and two charges of assaulting the children. 

Judge Bridget Mackintosh sentenced Hawkins to 10 months home detention, with a condition to attend a stopping violence programme. 

Hawkins was one of two attackers who went to the victim’s Hastings house on May 20, 2022 and beat him so badly that he briefly lost consciousness twice. The other attacker has not yet been prosecuted. 

A Crown summary of facts said at the time of the attack, Hawkins was associating with Mongrel Mob members. 

Earlier in the day, the victim had argued on the phone with a woman he knew, over some money that had been taken from one of the boys. 

The summary said the woman enlisted the help of her boyfriend, who was in prison at the time, to take action. 

The boyfriend arranged for Hawkins and the other attacker to go around to the victim’s house. 

Attackers came in stolen vehicle 

They arrived about 8.30pm in a stolen vehicle, knocked on the door and were let inside. 

Hawkins told the victim why they were there, and both attackers started punching and kicking him multiple times. 

Hawkins’ associate produced a tyre iron that had been concealed in his clothing and hit the victim on the back of the head, causing a wound that bled profusely. 

The attack moved from inside the house to the front porch, with the gang associates making repeated blows and stomps to the man’s head. 

“The [nine-year-old] came to the aid of his father and attempted to intervene by pulling on the defendant’s clothing, but the defendant kicked him away, causing bruising to his leg,” the summary of facts said. 

“The defendant went inside and grabbed [the 13-year-old] by the scruff of his collar, shoved him against a wall and told him, ‘Stay back, it’s over’.” 

As well as the head wound, the victim’s body was bruised. 

The two attackers tried to drive off in the stolen car but it wouldn’t start, so they left it on the victim’s driveway and fled on foot. 

Hawkins was identified by DNA found on a cap and a cigarette butt left inside the car, and was identified in a photo montage by the victim. 

Hawkins spent 17 months on electronically monitored restrictive bail while his case was going through the court system. 

In 2021, at the age of 19, Hawkins was sentenced to two years in prison for his part in a 2020 Havelock North robbery which left a taxi driver with a broken nose and eye socket. 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.