A German national jailed for violent offences still poses a risk of being dangerously violent when he’s released from prison. 

Jan Weeber was today jailed for four years and six months on serious assault charges in the Hamilton District Court where both his lawyer and judge stated he posed a “grave danger” when using methamphetamine. 

The 24-year-old had robbed a woman he knew in Hamilton and beaten another man in and out of consciousness three times. When the man awoke the fourth time, he was struggling to breathe and had a fractured back and sternum. 

Judge Philip Crayton told Weeber’s counsel, Glenn Dixon, his client “is a grave danger when he is in this state of drug paranoia, drug-induced mental health issues”. 

Dixon accepted that and said his client had grown up in Germany, “exposed to extraordinarily adverse circumstances”. 

Weeber’s mother had sent the court a letter from overseas outlining his upbringing, which noted he was prone to being violent as a youngster. 

Dixon said Weeber had effectively been brought up in Germany and then “dumped [in New Zealand] as a young person”. 

He then returned to Germany, where he got involved in drugs, which affected his mental health and subsequently led to crime before returning here in 2023. 

“He got into methamphetamine, and that clearly exacerbated his mental health [problems], and they were driving each other.” 

Dixon said Weeber had admitted he was in “some sort of psychotic drug-induced episode where he was hearing voices, extremely paranoid, intoxicated on methamphetamine, combined with his pre-disposition to a number of mental illnesses, he was prone to being very dangerous”. 

“That risk still exists, today, I have to say,” he said. 

Dixon said his client had notched up several misconduct reprimands while behind bars due to fighting with other prisoners. 

However, he’d voluntarily gone into segregation where he felt less aggressive, safer, and more settled. 

Given Weeber’s issues, Dixon urged the judge to hand down an additional 30% in discounts, but Judge Crayton said he couldn’t go that high. 

“I just can’t get to 30, and if Mr Weeber comes back again, I anticipate a court will say that he falls into a category ... where they may start to consider preventive detention.” 

‘I’ll cut your throat’ 

Weeber’s charges of robbery, injuring with intent to injure and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm all arose out of two separate incidents within two days of each other in late 2023. 

It was December 29, and the victim, a family friend, was at her Hamilton home when Weeber turned up. 

She let him in but then noticed “something unusual” about his behaviour. 

He moved so he was “very close to her face”; she told him to move away. 

Weeber put his hand over her mouth and told her to “be quiet” before asking where her methadone was. 

She said she didn’t have any. 

Weeber threatened to cut her throat if she made any noises and that he would “rain gang members down on her” if she called the police. 

Weeber searched her house for methadone but only found four cellphones, so he stole those. 

The victim then suggested they go to McDonald’s to get an ice cream, and he agreed. 

After parking, Weeber got out to buy food. After waiting a short time, the victim drove off. 

Two days later, Weeber was at an associate’s house in Gordonton and having committed the robbery days earlier was in a “heightened state”. 

He was paranoid about what the victim knew about him. 

The victim opened a window to let air in, but Weeber took exception to that and slapped him hard across the face. 

After asking what that was for, Weeber responded by punching him hard in the head, rendering him unconscious. 

When he came to, he was lying on the couch, and with Weeber still in a “heightened state”. 

The victim got up to get a glass of water, but Weeber rushed at him, punching him hard on the head again, making him lose consciousness. 

When the victim woke again, he was on the couch with Weeber on top of him, kneeling hard on his chest. 

He couldn’t breathe or move and started to feel weak, but then Weeber released some pressure. 

The victim asked him to get off, but Weeber replied, “You want some more, do you?” 

He again put his knee to the victim’s rib area and repeatedly punched him around the head and body. 

The victim lost consciousness for a third time and was again struggling to breathe. 

The rib and chest pain lasted several weeks, along with his inability to move normally. 

He was found to have a fractured rib from his sternum, fractures to his back and a hernia from his sternum to his navel. 

‘Too great a risk to the community’ 

Judge Crayton noted that as well as P, Weeber abused “a cocktail of other drugs including cannabis, valium, lorazepam, and alcohol in significant quantities”. 

The judge said if Weeber didn’t get free from drugs and start engaging with mental health agencies, and then ended up back in court, a judge “will be considering preventive detention”. 

“Your mental health risk factors would tip to the point where you are too great a risk in the community to be allowed to remain within the community,” he said. 

While he couldn’t reach 30% in discounts, Judge Crayton allowed an extra 20%, on top of his guilty plea discount, before jailing Weeber for four years and six months. 

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.