New Zealand! aggravated robbery, steal, money-laundering, jewellery store robbery, smash-and-grab, serial sexual predator, home invasion for hire, carpark attack, rob 2024.11.18-2025.1.22

A woman was knocked down and robbed in an Auckland supermarket carpark in December 2023.
George Jackson Sampson used her stolen bank card for eight transactions totalling $1609 within an hour.
He has now been sentenced to 22 months in prison for the robbery and spending spree.

A woman knocked to the ground as her handbag was yanked off her shoulder while loading groceries into her car says she is now too afraid to shop alone.

The man who targeted her and then robbed her during the “grab-and-run” racked up $1609 in expenses during an hour-long spending spree using one of her bank cards.

George Jackson Sampson was sentenced yesterday to almost two years in prison for the offending that started in a Takanini, Auckland, supermarket carpark in December 2023.

The woman’s driver’s licence, house and car keys were in the bag when it was stolen which caused lingering fear, Judge Garry Barkle said during sentencing in the Nelson District Court.

Sampson initially denied a charge of robbery and a representative charge of using a bank card but later changed his pleas to guilty.

The 26-year-old, who had since moved to Kaitaia was in Nelson briefly for a time and appeared in the Nelson court via a video link from the Northland Corrections Facility.

According to the police, Sampson formed a common intention with two associates to target members of the public in the Pak’nSave carpark in Takanini.

At around 8.20pm he and an associate were dropped off at the supermarket on Great South Road.

The other associate parked a short distance away.

At the same time, the woman was loading groceries into the boot of her car outside the supermarket.

Sampson approached her from behind and grabbed the strap of her handbag hanging over her shoulder.

As she tried to stop him from stealing her bag, Sampson pulled harder on the strap and freed it from the woman’s grasp, knocking her over in the process.

The woman said in her victim impact statement she suffered grazes to her arm and leg, was left constantly looking over her shoulder and was now too afraid to shop alone.

Sampson and the associate ran south along Great South Rd, cut through a service station forecourt onto Tironui Rd where the third associate was waiting before they all drove off.

About 10 minutes later Sampson and one of the associates entered a service station on Great South Rd and used one of the woman’s bank cards to buy $135.60 worth of items.

It was the first of eight transactions using the stolen card within an hour.

Minutes later they were in the Bell Bird Dairy on Great South Rd, Manurewa, where Sampson spent $173. His next target was a nearby superette where he spent $165.24, followed by $169.95 at Thirsty Liquor, and a further $174.05 at Apna Spice before heading back to the superette where he spent a further $353.19.

At 9.12pm he used the card to re-charge his 2degrees phone account to the value of $108 and two minutes later he was back at the same Mobil service station on Great South Rd where spent a further $160.

Judge Barkle noted Sampson’s minimal criminal history and how things appeared to have “gone off the rails” in recent years.

An alcohol and drug report showed he had endured poverty and learning difficulties growing up, he had been a heavy cannabis user use from his early teens but had been in fulltime work since 18.

Judge Barkle said on the lead charge of robbery there was no tariff case for such an offence but it was comparable to a street robbery by demand. Aggravating factors were the degree of planning by Sampson and his associates to target members of the public.

He said Sampson being with two others increased the element of intimidation, and the offending happened in a public carpark where there was an inherent risk of placing others in danger who may have tried to intervene.

From an overall starting point of 27 months in prison, Sampson was given a five-month discount for his eventual guilty pleas, arriving at a final sentence of 22 months in prison with leave to apply for home detention if an address was found.

On the representative charge of using the stolen bank card, Sampson was sentenced to five months in prison, to be served concurrently, and ordered to pay $1609.37 in reparation.

Three men were sentenced to prison for a violent motel room invasion involving a mother and her toddler.
Judge Simon Lance emphasised the bravery of the mother, who shielded her child during the attack.
The defendants were described as “collateral victims” in a “home invasion for hire” targeting the woman’s ex-husband.

An early childhood educator who leapt on top of her toddler son as three masked strangers forced their way into her Epsom motel room in the middle of the night – trying her best to shield the child as the men delivered blow after blow with a Samoan cricket bat – says she still struggles to come to terms with the bewildering, nightmarish scenario.

The men remained silent throughout the attack, leaving suddenly and without a word after the bat split in two.

“The face of my 3-year-old son screaming … will be forever etched in my mind,” she said in a victim impact statement that was read aloud in the Auckland District Court today as co-defendants Miracle Sau, 22, Johel Vui, 20, and Emmanuel Pritchard, 23, appeared together for sentencing.

By the end of the hours-long hearing, all three were sentenced to prison despite pleas from their lawyers for mercy due to their youth and their relatively clean records.

“What occurred that night must have been a terrifying experience,” Judge Simon Lance noted, emphasising that the incident could have easily resulted in death had luck not been on everyone’s side. “[The boy’s mother] was brave and resilient. She took the brunt of the attack.”

One of the defendants yelled an obscenity at the judge after learning they would be sent to prison, but only after he was out of eyesight from the bench – having already been led by security out of the courtroom through an open side door that leads to a holding cell.

To this day, the mother said, she still does not know why she was targeted. In an interview with the Herald immediately after the attack, the family wondered if it might have been a case of mistaken identity.

But prosecutor Ryan Benic described the incident today as a case of “home invasion for hire”, with two of the three defendants admitting they didn’t know the victims but had been offered a total of $1500 in exchange for intimidation. The third defendant said he wasn’t offered any money but went along to help, also not knowing the victims personally.

As for why they were enlisted in the first place, authorities were told only that the woman’s ex-husband – also in the motel room that night – was thought by the person who hired them to have disrespected his family. None of the defendants would identify the mystery person who bankrolled the “hit”.

Defence lawyers described the mother and child as unfortunate “collateral victims”.

Court documents state the trio arrived at Oak Tree Lodge on Great South Rd about 11.35pm on January 10 last year.

The woman had recently moved to the motel, which operates as transitional housing, after falling on hard times, a family spokesperson previously said. She had asked her ex-husband to stay with her and the child, sleeping in the room’s other bed, because she was frightened after frequent fights, drug use and screaming among neighbours, the family said.

As the trio approached, Vui was armed with the 1.5m bat, otherwise known as a kilikiti, and Sau held a machete. Prichard was unarmed. They knocked on the door, waking the mother and rousing the boy’s father from bed. Documents state the father opened the door but left the security chain attached, then quickly slammed the door shut and locked it upon seeing the trio and their weapons.

“The defendants began smashing the window in the door using the kilikiti and the machete,” according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. “Once the glass was smashed, the three defendants entered the room.”

“My baby, my baby!” the woman yelled as she pushed both her ex and her child on to the bed and jumped over them to protect them.

The blows were inflicted on the family for less than 30 seconds before the bat broke, but during that time the woman was struck multiple times. Her ex was hit on his hand and her child was hit on his leg, suffering swelling to his thigh and knee as well as a 3cm gash from the broken glass.

“The force of the blows was sufficient to break the bat in two, spraying splinters of wood across the room,” police noted in the agreed facts.

As the three ran from the lodge, the mother chased after them. A police dog handler patrolling the area also saw them run to their vehicle. They were followed to Otahuhu, where all three were arrested.

The woman said in her victim impact report that before the attack she had been a confident, outgoing social butterfly but now fears going out because she might run into the defendants. The 39-year-old was and remains a proud and protective mother who had struggled with infertility for about a decade before giving birth, she said.

“You instilled a fear in me so strong I thought we were going to die that night,” she said, adding that she hoped the defendants would receive a harsh punishment.

“Something must be wrong with you” to have targeted a child, she said, adding: “What you did is not okay.”

Judge Lance ordered a sentence of three years and 10 months for Sau, who organised the attack and who was described in a pre-sentence report as having shown “barely discernible” remorse. The other two were handed sentences of three years in prison.

Defence lawyer Lincoln Burns, representing Sau, said his client’s alleged indifference had been misinterpreted in the report. He works in security and has “an instinctive way of hiding his emotions”, he said.

“Unfortunately, [the mother] and the child are collateral victims of what happened here, but they weren’t targeted by Mr Sau,” Burns said.

The judge responded: “They didn’t have to hit [the mother]. They chose to hit her.”

Burns acknowledged that the situation quickly got out of hand.

“It was dark [in the room] and it was an unfocused, violent but brief attack,” he said, noting that his client confessed immediately after his arrest.

Vui, who wielded the bat during the attack, also regretted his involvement, said his lawyer, Matthew Goodwin.

“He says he didn’t intend to hit the child,” Goodwin said, describing the youngest victim as having been “somewhat caught in the crossfire” after Vui thought he saw the father reach for something in his pocket.

Vui said he agreed to participate because his grandmother had recently died and he was trying to raise money for her funeral. He had been offered $500. He was a hard worker and regular church-goer who received letters of support from the congregation and his bosses, his lawyer said.

Pritchard was described by his lawyer, Antonio Spika, as the last person to enter the motel room and the first one to leave. He was unarmed. But the judge pointed out he didn’t do anything to stop his co-offenders.

Each man faced a sentence of up to 14 years imprisonment for one count of aggravated burglary, up to five years for two counts each of assault with a weapon and up to two years for assault on a child.

“This attack has had an ongoing – not only physical but psychological – effect,” the judge said of the protective mother. “She was obviously terrified as were, no doubt, members of her family.

“… This was a vicious attack at night by three young – but big and imposing – men.”

Every member of that family, but especially the child, had a right to feel safe in their room, the judge added before handing down the sentences.

David Chai Pegler, a former social media influencer better known as David Grr, has been identified as a serial sexual predator.
Pegler is two years into a nine-year prison sentence for abusing two teen boys but until today he has had name suppression.
The long-awaited suppression lift comes after he pleaded guilty to a new charge involving another accuser.

WARNING: This story discusses sexual abuse and may be upsetting for some readers.

A former social media influencer who has managed to keep his criminal charges secret for almost five years, despite multiple convictions confirming accusations he was a serial sexual predator, can finally be identified as David Chai Pegler.

The 37-year-old – formerly known for his fashion-related posts, photography and society event appearances under the moniker David Grr – appeared via audio-visual feed in Auckland District Court today as he was sentenced for the abuse of a friend who woke up one night in 2007 to find Pegler performing a sex act on him.

He pleaded guilty to that charge, punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, late last year.

But Pegler was already in prison, serving a nine-year sentence that was handed down in the High Court at Auckland in 2022 after a jury found him guilty of abusing two other teen boys on separate occasions.

At the time, the media was allowed only to refer to him in broad terms as an influencer, barred even from mentioning the fashion niche in which he operated, until his sentencing later that year.

The suppression was extended when he requested to challenge the sentence with the Court of Appeal and extended again when he attempted to challenge the Court of Appeal decision via the Supreme Court.

The appeal process, however, was ultimately unsuccessful.

‘Not consensual’

Pegler first appeared in court on the charges for his first two victims in February 2020, accused of offending over the four years prior.

His High Court at Auckland trial began in August 2021, but it had to be aborted after more than a week of evidence due to the nationwide lockdown caused by the emergence of the Covid-19 Delta variant. A new trial was started in May the following year.

The man’s first accuser told police and later jurors that he first met the defendant in 2015, when he was 16 and trying to make headway in the fashion industry.

Despite Pegler being in his late 20s, the two became close friends and social media messages showed they were flirtatious at times. But the teen also clearly told the defendant that he wasn’t gay and didn’t want anything other than friendship, Facebook Messenger exchanges showed.

“Bringing up these things wasn’t anything I was ever going to do. It was excruciating,” the victim testified.

“I originally came forward because I got to the point where I didn’t want to have this happen to someone else. This was eating away at me quite corrosively.”

Pegler would later enter the witness box and describe the accuser as a liar and a “tease” who was using him to get ahead. He said the accuser had been exploring his sexuality at the time and as a result would give mixed messages. He denied having spiked the teen’s drinks on two occasions. He also denied blackmailing the teen by threatening to destroy his reputation or release nude photos if the teen didn’t relent to sexual acts.

All sexual acts between the two of them were consensual, he told jurors.

Pegler disagreed with prosecutors that there was a power imbalance between the two because of their ages, his success as a fashion personality and the parties he attended with New Zealand’s social elite. If anything, he said, it was the teen who was “street smart” and “wanted to get ahead”.

Pegler’s second accuser at the same trial said he was 18 years old when he twice woke in the defendant’s bed after nights of heavy drinking to find the defendant performing a sex act on him. Like the other accuser, he also acknowledged some flirtatious behaviour with the defendant but said he wasn’t gay and insisted he never gave consent for any sexual acts.

“Flirting with someone is not an invitation to [let someone perform sex acts on] you while you’re asleep,” then-prosecutor Sam Teppett would later retort during his closing address.

“The word ‘no’ didn’t comprehend in his brain.

“What he did was not consensual.”

Jurors agreed, returning guilty verdicts for five counts of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection involving both accusers.

Pegler was acquitted of one count of sexual violation, along with three counts of blackmail and two counts of aggravated wounding by stupefaction.

“Your offending included that of the most intrusive kind,” Justice Rebecca Edwards would later say at his sentencing in Oct 2022.

“Your victim was vulnerable, you assaulted him while he was heavily intoxicated and asleep and defenceless.”

Appeal over third accuser

Until now, the media have also been restricted from reporting that Pegler had a third accuser who testified against him during the 2022 trial. That testimony, and the judge’s instructions to the jury that followed, were the basis for his conviction appeals.

The third complainant, referred to in court documents only as “K”, said he had been victimised in 2011. Like the others, he described waking up after a night of drugs and alcohol to find Pegler sexually abusing him.

Although his allegations were not the basis for the trial, his recollections were used by the prosecution as propensity evidence – intended to show a pattern of behaviour.

Pegler had been found guilty by a district court jury in July 2015 of sexual violation of K by unlawful sexual connection and was sentenced to 10 months home detention. But that conviction was overturned on appeal on the basis of new expert evidence about “confabulation” – false memories that can result from excess alcohol and drug use.

On the morning of a judge-alone retrial in March 2017, the Crown opted not to present evidence rebutting the expert witness and the defence asked the judge to dismiss the charge. The request was granted, resulting in Pegler’s deemed acquittal.

Around that time, Pegler also was granted permanent name suppression. Previous media reporting about the charges against him were ordered removed from the Internet, although the previous case appeared to remain an open secret mentioned frequently on less stringently regulated social media.

“The status of the District Court [permanent suppression] order is unclear in light of the trial and convictions on the [subsequent] charges and the interim suppression orders presently in place and because it was not addressed by counsel in the submissions to this Court,” the Court of Appeal noted in its 20-page decision last June rejecting Pegler’s appeal.

“We have assumed that the earlier permanent suppression was overtaken by the later interim orders and that the appellant accepts he is no longer entitled to suppression in relation to the K allegations…”

Citing a UK Supreme Court case, Pegler’s appellate lawyer, Nick Chisnall KC, had argued to the Court of Appeal that Justice Edwards had improperly instructed the jury about the necessary standard of proof for the propensity evidence ahead of their deliberations. The standard should have been beyond reasonable doubt, just as it was for the accusations Pegler was on trial for, Chisnall said.

He also argued that the jury should have been told the reason for the deemed acquittal, specifically the confabulation expert evidence.

The Court of Appeal ultimately disagreed, noting that New Zealand law has “taken a different course”.

“In short, the [High Court] Judge’s directions complied with the settled law and involved no error,” Justice Jill Mallon wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel.

Four months later, in October last year, a Supreme Court panel issued a five-page judgment declining Pegler’s request to argue the case one last time before them.

“This proposed ground has insufficient prospects of success to warrant a second appeal,” the justices wrote. “Nor does anything raised by the applicant give rise to the appearance of a miscarriage of justice.”

Fourth accuser comes forward

Under normal circumstances, the Supreme Court decision would have meant the end of Pegler’s long-lasting suppression.

But because a new charge involving a fourth accuser had been filed earlier in the year, his identity was protected until the new case was settled. Under the Criminal Procedure Act, the media is automatically barred from reporting details of a defendant’s previous convictions while serious charges remain pending unless given explicit permission from a judge to do so. The law is intended to protect a defendant’s fair trial rights.

That restriction has now fallen away, however, after Pegler pleaded guilty to the latest charge.

According to the agreed summary of facts for the case, Pegler and the victim were friends in 2007 and the victim – a teenager who had recently finished high school – spent the night at Pegler’s family home in Remuera while visiting Auckland to attend a concert.

“One day that week, Mr Peglar and [the victim] were at Mr Peglar’s home … along with three other female friends, for a BBQ and general socialising,” state the court documents, which adopt an alternate spelling of the defendant’s surname.

“Later that evening, Mr Peglar, [the victim] and two of the three female friends went to sleep in Mr Peglar’s room. [The victim] was asleep by himself on a mattress on the floor.”

When he woke up to the abuse, the victim rolled over so that the act couldn’t continue but pretended to still be asleep.

“Mr Peglar quickly stopped and fled back to his own bed,” court documents state.

Peglar would later claim, as he did with his other accusers, that the act was consensual.

‘Betrayal cuts deep’

During today’s hearing, Crown prosecutor Kate Haszard strongly opposed the insinuation that the latest victim had invited the activity. Judge Kevin Glubb agreed, declining to allow a discount for remorse as a result.

“You have attempted to victim blame, in essence,” he said. “I set that aside entirely.”

The victim, now a married father of three, said he struggled for years to come to terms with what happened at the hands of someone he looked up to and trusted.

“The betrayal cuts deep,” he said, explaining that for many years he was “unable to shake the feeling that those closest to me would harm me”.

He wasn’t seeking revenge, he said, but after years of trying to forget and minimise the incident he needed to stand up for himself and let Pegler know that what he did was not okay.

“I have the right to heal and be heard,” he explained. “The harm David has caused goes beyond the physical – it has quite literally shaped my life.”

Defence lawyer Susan Gray sought a two-year starting point for her client, noting that the imposed sentence would be served on top of the nine years he’s already serving. She sought discounts for his guilty plea, background, youth at the time of offending and remorse.

“He has suffered trauma and ongoing bullying and racism,” she said, explaining that her client still suffers PTSD.

Pegler has recognised the harm he has caused and has sought therapy while in prison, she pointed out.

In a report prepared for Judge Glubb ahead of the sentencing, Pegler was assessed as beinga high risk of causing harm to others and a moderate risk of re-offending. He noted that the victim had looked up to Pegler as someone of influence, and that the ripples of such offending reach out “wide and long and they cannot be underestimated”.

But he also noted that he had to take into account Justice Edwards’ High Court sentencing in 2022 and try to determine what her uplift would have been had she known about the current case.

He settled on an uplift of 10 months, making his new combined sentence nine years and 10 months imprisonment.

Pegler will have to serve at least one-third of the sentence before he can begin to apply for parole. The judge encouraged him to continue his therapy in the meantime.

‘When terrible people get their comeuppance’

Before his first arrest in 2014, Pegler was frequently seen out at fashion showcases and high-society gatherings. The Herald on Sunday described him as a “self-styled man about town”.

But his most high-profile moment had been when he got into an online feud with then-17-year-old Lorde, who at that time was still grappling with her newfound international stardom.

On his Facebook page, he had posted an unflattering photo of her at the beach, resulting in vitriolic comments from followers that got the singer’s attention. She asked him to take it down and he did.

In a teen magazine months later, Lorde revisited the incident and said she was surprised at how stressful it was to her.

Pegler responded by advising the singer to “harden up”.

“If she takes everything personally she’s going to be a wreck by the end of the year,” he said.

The singer eventually got in the last word.

On the same day in 2014 that police publicised details of Pegler’s arrest, she tweeted to her many followers: “when terrible people get their comeuppance’‘.

Pegler’s once-thriving Instagram account, from which he made money through sponsored posts, is now private but he still has just under 60,000 followers.

Even as his legal troubles came to a head in past years, he continued to grow his online profile, taking advantage of the court suppression orders so that most internet searches resulted in his own promotion.

He posted a picture of himself walking along a beach in July 2021, one month before his first High Court trial. Another beach photo was posted the following October after the trial was aborted by Covid.

“Life’s always better at the beach even if the world is falling apart,” he wrote.

His online posts have been dark, however, since April 2022 – one month before the trial that would result in his imprisonment.

“His offending has destroyed his career which he spent many, many years building up,” his lawyer explained today.

Police have revealed the charges for three youths arrested after an Auckland jewellery store robbery as dramatic footage emerges of the smash-and-grab.

Two people are set to appear in the Auckland Youth Court after a robbery at Westfield St Lukes mall on Tuesday. They face charges of receiving stolen goods and shoplifting, police said.

A 19-year-old woman is also due to reappear in the Auckland District Court on January 28 on a charge of shoplifting.

Two other men involved in the heist who abandoned a Subaru vehicle and fled on foot after driving off from the mall are still on the run, police said.

It comes as new footage of the heist has emerged.

In the video supplied to the Herald, a hooded man with a hammer can be seen jumping on and smashing a glass cabinet at Michael Hill before an alarm rings out and fog cannons activate in the store.

The attacker then runs off along with another man wearing a black hoodie and a black Nike backpack.

Someone can be heard asking, “Should I call the police?” in the background.

Earlier, police told the Herald they responded to reports on Tuesday of two men entering the jewellery store and smashing counters with tools before running off with jewellery.

“Those involved were then reportedly seen handing some stolen items to occupants of a Mazda vehicle before fleeing the area in a Subaru vehicle.”

Police reported a Subaru was found abandoned on Lyon Ave, with two men seen running from the vehicle toward St Lukes Rd.

Jewellery and trays were found in the Subaru, which was towed for examination.

Police stopped the Mazda on Mt Smart Rd after reports of the car being driven recklessly on Morningside Drive and St Lukes Rd.

“Three people were found in the vehicle and arrested, along with stolen clothing, and some pieces of stolen jewellery believed to be from the earlier robbery.”

Police said the trio in the Mazda were aged between 17 and 19.

An eyewitness told the Herald he saw a group stealing clothes from a Stirling Sports store to cover their faces. Then he saw people at Michael Hill smashing “as many [glass] cabinets as they could at once” before triggering the jewellery store’s fog cannons and running out with a small Michael Hill bag.

“I was in my store working and we could just hear the fog cannons go off and a big bang.

“As the fog was going on, everyone just stood around … mine and [the Stirling worker’s] instincts were to just run after them, get the rego and do what we could.”

He ran after them with a Stirling Sports employee and two security guards out to the rooftop carpark.

Video sent to the Herald shows the eyewitness chasing a white vehicle from the carpark on to the road, where it swerved to avoid him before racing off.

Stores in the mall immediately locked up, with some taking in nearby customers who the witness described as “standing and staring”, with some elderly bystanders “freaking out”.

A photo of the incident shows a large cloud of smoke rising from the mall’s ground floor as nearby shoppers look on.

Thousands of dollars of property and alcohol have been stolen from Rotorua’soldest sports club in a “gut-wrenching” theft the club president says feels like a “kick in the guts”.

The club said it suspected two men scoped out the Whakarewarewa Community Sports Club earlier on the night of Thursday last week before returning just after 4am on Friday to steal about $10,000 of alcohol and property.

Club president Marty Hatu said it was “gut-wrenching” that someone would steal from the club considering how much it strived to give back to the community.

Hatu said two men were caught on the club’s CCTV cameras scoping out the club before 8pm. They arrived in a silver late-model SUV-style vehicle with black mag wheels and parked in the club’s car park.

They spent the following 45 minutes going around the club checking it out, Hatu said. One of the men had a distinctive black side bag with a white skull and crossbones on it. They wore hoodies and gloves.

Just after 4am the club was broken into. The two men, who Hatu said arrived in the same car as the earlier men, could be seen on CCTV footage stealing the various items.

Hatu said the stolen items included an 85-inch television, a 15-inch Alto speaker, an Avanti bike, a cash register and a few thousands dollars’ worth of alcohol.

“We are probably at a loss of close to $10k worth of belongings and alcohol as we’d just stocked up our chiller for functions.”

Hatu said it was a “kick in the guts” to suffer such a setback after club members and its committee had worked hard to support the club which had seen an influx of youth and other members. He said that helped cover fees and registration costs and allowed the club to put on community events.

“You try and do good for the community and provide opportunities to people to be amazing and these f*s take it upon themselves to rip us off. These guys knew what they were up to and were casual as about it. When they steal from us, they steal from our community, our kids and our iwi.”

A police spokesman confirmed a burglary report had been made and inquiries around the circumstances and items stolen were being investigated.

Whakarewarewa Community Sports Club was established in 1890 and has a strong relationship to Te Arawa hapū Tuhourangi Ngāti Wahiao. Sports at the club include premier rugby, junior rugby, netball, golf, softball, volleyball, 8 ball and fishing.

•Fuqin (Lily) Che and Qiang (Michael) Fu will forfeit $2.2 million in assets to the Crown.
•They were convicted under anti-money-laundering law for moving $53m for a Chinese businessman.
•The forfeited assets include a house, $500,000 in cash, a Maserati and a Mercedes.

A mother and son involved in a suspicious multimillion-dollar money-handling scheme have agreed to hand over about $2.2 million in property to the Crown, including a house and two cars – a Maserati and a Mercedes.

Fuqin (Lily) Che, Qiang (Michael) Fu and their company, Jiaxin Finance, have already been prosecuted, convicted and fined almost $2.9m after an investigation into large-scale money remittances coming from China.

The pair were prosecuted by the Department of Internal Affairs under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.

Separately, police obtained restraining orders under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 over two houses in Auckland, along with $500,000 in cash, a 2015 Maserati and a 2011 Mercedez Benz, all taken from Che and Fu.

The assets were seized in police raids in July 2016, shortly after the Internal Affairs investigation ended.

The cash was made up of $472,000 found in the living area of a house Che and Fu shared, and $28,000 found in Fu’s bedroom.

The Internal Affairs prosecution later alleged Jiaxin was a family enterprise in which Fu, the sole director and shareholder, and his mother, Che, were running a racket at the behest of a businessman living in Canada, Xiaohua (Edward) Gong.

Gong has been described by High Court Justice Christine Gordon as a “Chinese national and fraudster” who defrauded investors in a pyramid scheme of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The mother and son appealed unsuccessfully against their convictions and sentence, with their barrister, Ron Mansfield KC, arguing they did not know Gong was involved in any unlawful activity.

The prosecution case alleged Gong used New Zealand to launder proceeds from the illegal Chinese pyramid scheme.

Che and Fu were found guilty by High Court Justice Tracey Walker of failing to keep adequate records, and failing to report 311 suspicious transactions totalling about $53m between April 2015 and May 2016.

Jiaxin Finance Ltd, which has since been deregistered, was fined $2.25m. Lily Che was fined $202,000 and Michael Fu $180,000.

After they unsuccessfully appealed their convictions to the Court of Appeal and then failed to get leave to take their case to the Supreme Court, the Commissioner of Police applied for the forfeiture of two houses belonging to the pair, the cash seized from their home, and the two cars.

Subsequent negotiations reached a settlement under which Che and Fu would surrender one of the houses, the cash, the cars and a further $400,000 as a “settlement sum”, which could be raised by borrowing against the second house.

The settlement agreement between Che, Fu and the police was approved recently by Justice Gordon in the High Court at Auckland.

The approximate value of the property being forfeited is $2.2m.

Che and Fu will be allowed to keep equity of about $366,000 from the assets which were formerly restrained.

The Proceeds of Crime (Recovery) Act is used by police to seize assets which have been acquired and “tainted” by “significant” criminal activity.

It is often used against gang members and others involved in drug-dealing, but has been used for financial and other white-collar crimes also.

Monday, 18 November 2024 – 7:18pm | Wellington
Police investigating aggravated robbery of Hutt Central dairy

Police are investigating after an aggravated robbery at a dairy in Hutt Central last night where a female shopkeeper was assaulted.

At least four masked offenders entered the dairy on Knights Road at 6.41pm last night, assaulting the victim before taking off in a stolen vehicle with cigarettes, cash and other items.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rachael Boyd says the victim received minor injuries, but is understandably extremely upset by what has occurred and Police are very concerned by the level of violence shown by those involved.

The offenders have dumped the stolen vehicle at the corner of Totara Crescent and Rangiora Street in Woburn before getting into another stolen vehicle which was then dumped on Parliament Street.

The offenders have then fled on foot. Police attended the scene and used a dog unit in attempt to track the offenders but without success.

Enquiries to identify those involved are well-underway and we are in the process of reviewing CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses.

Police are asking anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the mentioned areas or anyone who thinks they have information or CCTV which may be of assistance to our enquiries to please update us online now or call 105.

Please use the reference number 241117/8174.

Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre.

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警方正在调查哈特中心区乳品厂严重抢劫案

昨晚，哈特中心区一家乳品店发生严重抢劫案，一名女店主遭到袭击，警方正在调查此案。

昨晚 6 点 41 分，至少有 4 名蒙面罪犯进入 Knights Road 的一家乳品厂，袭击了受害者，然后驾驶一辆偷来的车，抢走了香烟、现金和其他物品。

侦缉高级警长雷切尔·博伊德 (Rachael Boyd) 表示，受害者受了轻伤，但可以理解的是，她对所发生的事情感到非常不安，警方对涉案人员所表现出的暴力程度非常担忧。

罪犯将偷来的车辆丢弃在沃本市托塔拉新月街和朗吉奥拉街的拐角处，然后进入另一辆偷来的车辆，并将其丢弃在议会街。

罪犯随后徒步逃走。警方赶到现场，并使用警犬试图追踪罪犯，但没有成功。

我们正在对涉案人员进行调查，并正在查看闭路电视录像并与目击者交谈。

警方请求任何人在上述地区目睹任何可疑情况，或任何认为他们掌握的信息或闭路电视可能对我们的调查有帮助的人立即在线提供信息或拨打105。

请使用参考编号 241117/8174。