• - Stanley Iese, 49, was sentenced to eight years and eight months for aggravated robbery of 90-year-old Colin McLean.
• - Judge Nevin Dawson described the attack as “gratuitous violence” and noted Iese’s prior convictions and high re-offending risk.
• - McLean allowed photos of his injuries to be published to warn other elderly residents to be careful in situations involving the exchange of cash for work.

WARNING: DISTRESSING PHOTOS AND CONTENT

At 90 years old, retired St John ambulance officer Colin McLean was proud of his independence.

That self-sufficiency ended in the blink of an eye on March 13, 2019, when a man sneaked up behind him inside his longtime Mt Roskill home and began strangling him. He blacked out moments later but the savage attack continued, resulting in a beating so severe that police would treat the case as a potential murder investigation as they waited to see if he would survive.

Luckily for both McLean and for his attacker, who fled overseas, he did make it out of the hospital alive after five weeks. But the now-95-year-old still suffers and has not been able to live on his own since that day, a court has been told.

Details of the case were revealed on Friday as Stanley Iese appeared in the Auckland District Court for sentencing.

The 49-year-old, who returned to New Zealand voluntarily last year to face the consequences, was ordered to serve a term of eight years and eight months’ imprisonment for aggravated robbery.

 
Stanley Iese was sentenced to prison for brutally attacking a 90-year-old Mt Roskill, Auckland resident in his home.

“It was shameful offending against a 90-year-old man who had previously helped you,” Judge Nevin Dawson said, speaking slowly so that his words could be translated to Samoan as he began to tick off a long list of indignities the victim has suffered over the past five years.

“Since your attack, he can’t read anything, he can’t write, he cannot see a TV as it is very blurred, he cannot manage his own finances, he can’t administer his own medications and the many eye drops he has to have four times per day, he cannot recognise people until they talk to him, he cannot walk without a walking frame, he can no longer walk up steps, he cannot fully turn his head to the right side, he has lost most of his sense of taste and cannot now tolerate anything remotely sweet in taste, he has to be helped with his showers, he does not go on any outings because he can’t see his surrounding ... He has bouts of not being able to think as clearly as he did.”

Colin McLean was strangled and beaten inside his Mt Roskill home by Stanley Iese, who had done yard work for him in the past. Photo / Supplied

According to court documents, Iese had done yard work for the homeowner on and off for about two years when the attack occurred. He turned up at the residence just after midday on the day of the attack and asked to use the toilet.

“Mr McLean, who was alone at the house, reluctantly let Mr Iese in and showed him where the toilet was and remained in the lounge,” the agreed summary of facts for the case states, explaining that the strangling took place a short time later.

“Mr McLean struggled, but soon lost consciousness and fell to the floor. Mr Iese hit Mr McLean’s face multiple times with full force whilst he was lying on the floor and, at one point, drove his thumbs into Mr McLean’s eyes. Mr Iese then entered Mr McLean’s bedroom and took $1000 in cash from the drawer and left the house.”

McLean didn’t attend the sentencing hearing but his victim impact statement was read aloud in court by a friend. He had lived alone in the house from 1998 until the attack but then had to sell it quickly to pay for his care, he said.

He said he first met Iese after the stranger turned up at his door one day and asked to trim his hedges for cash. McLean said he agreed and after that, Iese would turn up every so often looking for more work. The homeowner said he grew increasingly uncomfortable with the situation and at one point asked Iese not to return.

Colin McLean was struck on his face multiple times, with Iese also driving his thumbs into his victim's eyes. Photo / Supplied

“However, he did come back and he asked me for cash,” the victim explained. “He was crying as he said he needed to get some money for his wife and family. I felt sorry for him, so told him to do some work, which I paid him cash for.”

On the last occasion Iese worked at the property, he wanted $600 for a couple hours of work. The homeowner said he did not agree to that amount and paid him less, asking him again not to come back.

McLean said he was surprised to find Iese at his door again on the day of the attack. The defendant had never been in the house before, but when he asked to use the toilet the victim said he didn’t have a reason to refuse the request as he wasn’t a stranger anymore.

“I showed him to the toilet down the hallway, and turned around and walked away,” he recalled. “The next thing I remember are two hands coming around my neck from behind and I blanked out.”

McLean believes he remained unconscious for several hours.

A Mt Roskill home is taped off after a 90-year-old resident was brutally attacked and robbed. Photo / Doug Sherring

After that, he explained, “the hospital told me I could no longer care for myself in my own home”. He’s now in a rest home.

The judge was handed graphic photos of McLean’s injuries before his ex-wife, Lee, also gave a victim impact statement, noting that she had long been concerned about the arrangement with Iese.

“My reason for worrying was from a job I had in a government department back around 1980,” Lee McLean explained. “We investigated complaints where in people were going to the homes of elderly people, and offering to paint their roofs and houses for cash. As one of the investigators, I found these elderly people were charged exorbitantly most times and very often taken to their banks to withdraw cash.

“It is a problem that resurfaces in our society every now and then, so this worried me.”

She encouraged her ex, who she remains close with, to stop giving Iese work.

“I told my husband they were crocodile tears,” she recalled saying when Colin McLean said he had tried to break it off but relented.

McLean’s many injuries included a brain bleed, facial fractures, a broken nose, a lens dislocation and eye nerve damage, as well as bruises to his face and neck. Two teeth were knocked out during the attack and two others had to be taken out later.

“He was barely recognisable,” his former partner recalled. “I could not believe my eyes as to the mess Colin was in.”

Beating and robbery victim Colin McLean was no longer able to live on his own after the attack. Photo / Supplied

Iese wrote a letter of apology, which was handed to the judge during the hearing but not read aloud. Even more telling of his repentance is the fact he came back to New Zealand last year from Samoa, defence lawyer Ted Johnston said.

“He brought himself back,” he said. “He came back to face justice and turn himself in.”

Crown prosecutor Pip McNabb said any discount off his sentence for remorse should be modest seeing as there has never been any explanation as to why the attack occurred, and why it was so needlessly violent.

Judge Niven agreed, allowing a discount of 5% for “limited” remorse.

“It was gratuitous violence far in excess of that necessary to carry out the robbery of a 90-year-old man,” the judge explained.

He also pointed to Iese’s 16 prior convictions, including five for violence, and a pre-sentencing report that assessed a high likelihood of him re-offending.

The court heard there has never been any explanation as to why the attack occurred, and why it was so needlessly violent. Photo / Supplied

The judge sat calmly as Iese’s family began yelling after the sentence was announced, both at Iese’s lawyer and at the judge. They wanted to reach out to the victim and could pay restitution, they yelled, but the sentence was already imposed.

Iese, meanwhile, bowed twice at the judge and the lawyers with his hands pressed together in a praying position.

“No cry. I am strong,” he yelled back to his family in broken English before joining them in a chorus of complaints about the justice process.

“I never fight,” he said. “I never punch, punch, punch.”

He was taken from the dock into custody as his family noisily left the courtroom.

After the hearing, Lee McClean said she felt sorry for Iese’s family and that she and her ex had no animosity towards the defendant. She said she hoped he would be able to find religion and turn his life around, taking advantage of the fact he didn’t end up with a murder conviction and a much longer sentence.

Colin McLean allowed the Herald to publish his photos, hoping they might serve as a warning to others his age who might find themselves in similar situations involving strangers offering to work for cash.

He had never seen the photos himself, he said, until earlier this year, just before Iese’s trial was set to begin. The defendant instead pleaded guilty at the last minute.

“The injuries were far worse than I imagined,” Colin McLean said of the photos. “I was a full-time St John Ambulance officer in Auckland for over 20 years, and rarely ever saw assault injuries that bad at that time.

“As can be seen, the assault has affected my life dramatically, and permanently. I have not been able to enjoy the rest of my retirement years as a normal elderly person would, and as I was doing up to that point.”

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

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