[ad_1]
The confinement was not kind to Mohammed Mausheem.
He lost his job, became addicted to methamphetamine and, in a desperate attempt to pay off his drug debts, robbed two Hamilton banks and a dairy in a single day.
Mausheem, 27, wept silently in the dock Tuesday when he was jailed for four years and two months at his sentencing in Hamilton District Court.
The events that led to a “very stupid election” day on September 30, namely the armed robberies of the Westpac bank in Chartwell Mall, the Kiwibank bank in Rototuna, and a dairy in Taupiri, were exposed in the court by Mausheem’s attorney, Gerard Walsh.
Those circumstances included “early life discord on the home front”, leading to Mausheem being raised by his mother in South Auckland.
He had attended a polytechnic in Manukau, and it was there that he fell in love with some bad company and for a time dabbled in drugs, that is, synthetic cannabis, the lawyer said.
After some drug counseling, he had put his life back together and stayed drug free for years, until an unexpected twist of fate this year.
“The confinement arrives, his work leaves and suddenly he has too much free time.”
Mausheem started using methamphetamine, more than he could afford.
Faced with the growing need to pay off his debts, Walsh said his client had taken some desperate measures.
“He had no other place to turn except to make very stupid decisions … This is methamphetamine use and what leads to a person.”
That day he took Mausheem to the Westpac bank counter in Chartwell at 1:23 p.m. He was wearing a red and white scarf and a backpack, from which he produced a replica pistol.
“Fill the bag or I’ll shoot you,” he told the cashier. She obeyed and he got away with just under $ 2000.
At 5.15pm he used the same modus operandi at the Rototuna Kiwibank, which yielded a more modest loot of $ 442.
Exactly two hours later, the Taupiri dairy on Te Putu St was his target. Inside were the owners and their children, ages eight and six. Mausheem demanded cash and cigarettes and got $ 105 of the former.
A panic alarm went off. Mausheem fled and was discovered shortly after by police, who were on high alert after the robberies earlier in the day, heading north towards Huntly. A chase followed, at speeds of up to 170 km / h, with Mausheem occasionally turning off the headlights of his car. However, the Eagle police helicopter was available to track him down.
Finally, Mausheem stopped and left on foot. A team of police dogs was dispatched and they tracked down, captured, arrested and charged him with three counts of aggravated robbery and one of reckless driving and failing to stop before the police.
Judge Jonathan Down was armed with a cultural report, a pre-sentencing report, and a letter from Mausheem himself, in which he expressed deep regret and apologies, many of which were for his own family, who were in court for find out about your destination. first hand.
The judge took a starting point of five years in jail for the Westpac robbery and added two more years for each of the other robberies.
Mausheem’s guilty pleas brought a 25 percent discount, and his expressions of remorse another 5 percent.
“This violation is so serious that I must be careful not to apply too much of a discount for his addiction,” Judge Down said, before applying an additional 10 percent discount to reflect that addiction.
This brought a final sentence of four years and two months. The judge chose not to impose any reparations, because Mausheem had no way to pay for it in jail and it was not a burden that he wanted to impose on the family of the convict.
Judge Down also disqualified Mausheem for driving for a year.
