A gang expert says the road to recovery for serious offenders is long and riddled with setbacks, but more nuance was necessary to judge an individual’s overall rehabilitation.

It comes after a high-profile and senior Mongrel Mob member, who has professed to be a “changed man”, today pleaded guilty to kidnapping his partner and seriously assaulting an elderly man.

Poutawa “Puk” Kireka appeared via audio-visual link in the Napier District Court for the incident, which left a 76-year-old who intervened with a brain bleed, on September 25 last year.

Sociologist Dr Jarrod Gilbert, who told the Herald he had met Kireka “a few times” through his studies and exercises programmes Kireka ran, said he needed to be “held to account” for his heinous crimes.

Security footage from outside the Napier Police Station captured a sports car pulling up outside, before Kireka’s partner got out and ran up toward the front door injured and covered in blood.

Academic and gang scholar Dr Jarrod Gilbert pictured with Puk Kireka in 2019. Photo / Supplied

Kireka chased her and, holding her hair, forced her back into the car. The police station was unmanned.

A 76-year-old retired man spotted the injured woman coming toward them and flagging them down and let her into his car.

He started driving but Kireka followed their car at speed before pulling in front of them and stopping abruptly.

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Kireka approached the car on foot, opened a door, and punched the man multiple times in the face.

The man managed to drive off, but due to his extensive injuries, crashed through a gate near Awatoto. The car came to rest on top of a concrete pile and was extensively damaged.

The elderly man suffered a brain bleed, multiple fractures, large amounts of bruising, and cuts to his lip and neck during the attack. He had to be flown to Hutt Hospital and underwent facial surgery.

Ex Mongrel Mob gang member Puk Kireka. Photo / Supplied

Police had been called about the incident and found Kireka and his injured partner later that morning in Clive. His partner was treated in hospital for her injuries.

He pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm - both of which carry maximum penalties of 14 years imprisonment - as well as lesser charges of assault on a person in a family relationship and possession of cannabis.

Kireka, 35, who joined the Mongrel Mob in 2008, created worldwide headlines in 2019 when he claimed in an interview with Hawke’s Bay Today that he was a changed man trying to live a better life.

A few months later Kireka made headlines again for breaking his partner’s nose in an argument outside Flaxmere College, whereafter he was later sentenced to supervision, ordered to attend a domestic violence and drug and alcohol programme.

But Gilbert, of the University of Canterbury, spoke generally about the varying success of rehabilitation for offenders.

“It’s a bit like people wanting to lose weight, quit smoking or drinking. There will be setbacks, but you have to continue to achieve your goal,” he told the Herald.

Puk Kireka, when his face tattoo wasn't red. Photo / Facebook.

“Crime is no different. It’s certainly not excusing serious offending like [Kireka’s] but the thing is, there are often other factors behind reoffending that need to be looked at.”

Gilbert said a “successful rehabilitation” could be defined by a number of measures - and did not necessarily mean a complete lack of reoffending.

“The types of crimes could change, maybe the frequency [of offending] drops, the seriousness reduces, it could be the addition of non-crime things; maybe they’re taking care of their kids again, getting off drugs.

“They may still be doing crime, but their life may have improved in other ways we don’t really measure. We tend to focus on a single criminal event, but if you zoom the lens out a bit it can be a different picture.”

Gilbert said people who commit serious crimes tended to have difficult backgrounds, which further complicated rehabilitation and increased the likelihood of recidivism.

He argued for preventative measures that stopped doing “damage to individuals” and pushed them back to criminal activity.

“These failures [recidivism] are all too common. But you will have several failures on a long path to success,” Gilbert said.

“It’s an incredibly hard process.”