The Mongrel Mob member responsible for an 11-hour armed stand off in Napier has had to be pinned to the ground while the courtroom was evacuated following his sentencing today.
Twenty-six-year-old Hemi Taylor was being sentenced in the Napier District Court on charges of illegally possessing a shotgun and using it with disregard for safety of others.
The incident sent schools into lockdown across the suburb of Onekawa as armed police swarmed the area and surrounded a property on Alexander Avenue on in the afternoon of June 24.
Negotiations by special tactic groups and armed offenders squad from Wellington continued for over 12 hours before a peaceful resolution at 1am the next day.
As Taylor was dismissed by Judge Tony Adeane after receiving a sentence of two years and five months in prison, the convict refused to leave the dock and began tussling with a court security guard.
Taylor was backed into a corner as he tried to punch the security officer before being swarmed by five other security officers.
The courtroom and public gallery was then evacuated and Taylor could be seen being restrained by the throat and pinned to the ground.
The police summary of facts state Taylor had consumed “a large amount of methamphetamine” the week of June 22.
Police say the patched East Coast Mongrel Mob member was meant to deliver a parcel of methamphetamine to Gisborne on behalf of the gang but instead is believed to consumed it himself.
Taylor had become paranoid that the Mob would come looking for him to kill him due to the missing drugs, authorities said.
On the afternoon of June 24, Taylor armed himself with a pistol-length shotgun and fired it at a fence while visiting his partner's mother's house with their four-month-old child.
He then took the child in his car with the gun and drove off before returning to the property, police said. He then picked up his partner and returning to their Housing New Zealand flat on Alexander Avenue, according to police.
Jo Amos spoke to 1 NEWS about her mother living next door to the home where the incident unfolded.
Now swarming the suburb of Onekawa to locate Taylor, police found his car in the driveway on Alexander Avenue.
Police say he was “using his partner and baby as a shield in case the Mongrel Mob were out to get him".
Mass emergency services resources were called in from around the district, including the armed offenders squad and a strategic tactics group from Wellington that was flown to Napier by helicopter.
Surrounding street lights were turned off, plunging the neighbourhood into darkness, and police negotiated with Taylor until 1.30am - when the defendant agreed to surrender and was finally arrested.
The incident is thought to have cost police tens of thousands of dollars in costs as well as man hours.
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