Trio jailed for Welcome Bay invasions

Three men who invaded a man's Welcome Bay home twice seeking revenge for an unpaid loan have been sent to jail today.

Tauranga man Steven Dennis Poole was jailed, alongside Hamilton men John Paul Murphy and Raymond Charles Perry, after invading the home of Sean Marsh on two separate occasions in 2012.

Bullet holes left in the window of a Welcome Bay home.

Poole, 44, was jailed for nine years for aggravated burglary, injury with intent to injury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Murphy, 36, was sentenced to 17 years' jail with a minimum non-parole period of 11 years and six months on charges of attempted murder, recklessly discharging a firearm, injury with intent to injure, arson and two aggravated burglary charges.

Perry, 35, was sentenced to 11 years and six months on charges of aggravated burglary, being a party to the reckless discharge of a firearm and arson.

In the High Court in Rotorua Justice Sarah Katz today said Murphy and Perry had gone to an "angered and hostile" Poole at his Welcome Bay home in May 2012.

At his urging, they invaded Marsh's home armed with a pole and imitation pistol to extract revenge for an unpaid loan and for Marsh, a neighbour of Poole's, running off with Poole's ex-partner.

Marsh's cheekbone was broken after being hit during the raid, while cash and cannabis taken and divvied up between the three convicted men.

Two months after the first home invasion Murphy again went to Marsh's home, shooting into the house with a sawn-off shotgun, grazing his face with pellets.

On another occasion Perry and Murphy had gone to a Hamilton home with a firearm, which Murphy shot into the house, narrowly missing Bonnie Scott, whose victim impact statement described it as the most terrifying experience of her life.

Source: NZ Newswire.

1 comment

Good to see

Posted on 22-05-2014 16:52 | By MrsT

Finally a decent sentence that will take this off our streets for quite some time. Hopefully long enough for some reflection on their parts.


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