A Nomads prospect has been urged to rethink his loyalty to the gang after being imprisoned for stabbing a mobster in the face with a pair of scissors. 

"You're sitting in that booth today and they're not here," a judge told 19-year-old Nehemaea Miller as he was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. 

"They're not going to be doing your time for you either." 

Miller stabbed a Mongrel Mob member in the face 15 times at a petrol station in Levin last year. 

His victim underwent surgery for three hours to reattach the lower half of his nose. 

"It is understandable that you feel with them a sense of connection and family and belonging that you did not experience when you were younger," Judge Stephanie Edwards told Miller in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday. 

She said his siblings and his aunt had voiced support for him in the wake of the incident and would be there for him when he got out of prison. 

"They're a better future than the Nomads will ever be." 

According to the summary of facts, Miller and two patched Nomads members were at a petrol station in Levin in July 2021 when they saw a man wearing a Mongrel Mob T-shirt inside the store. 

Miller stayed in the car while his two associates went inside and demanded the man hand over his colours. 

The man refused, arguing with the two Nomads before leaving the store. 

As he left, Miller rushed at him with a pair of scissors, stabbing him in the face at least 15 times, also stabbing him in the arms as the man tried to defend himself. 

"Aunty, I've done something really, really bad," he texted his aunty not long after the incident. 

In her sentencing, Jude Edwards said Miller had experienced a traumatic life and his background made for very sad reading. 

Family abandonment, homelessness and substance abuse had been the only constants in his life. 

"You've said you want to go back to the Nomads - in some ways they've been the only company at home you've had." 

"They've given you that sense of belonging." 

Miller's lawyer, Rennie Gould, told the court "it's hard to imagine someone with Nehe's background turning out any differently." 

She said it was the last case she was taking on and was retiring from case law. 

"But I'm going to stand by him on his release, find somewhere for him to live." 

"He just wants a home, but I would hope for more than that for him."