Sikh impersonator jailed for aggravated robbery

A young man who committed a number of offences including aggravated robbery at banks and other retail stores was sentenced to eleven years in prison at the Manukau District Court recently.

Presiding Judge Dr Ajit Swaran Singh found 28-year-old Moeaia Toleafoa guilty on four counts of aggravated robbery and one count of demanding with menaces.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for the latter offence, to run concurrently.

In most incidents, the offender disguised himself with a beard and a red turban, to give the impression that he belonged to the Indian Sikh community.

The defendant confessed to the crimes, expressed remorse, said that he was addicted to gambling, and hence needed money.

He had given a commitment to the Probation Officer that he would undergo counselling and that he should be assessed as a “low risk re-offender.”

“I did the crime and I will do the time.  Experience can be a cruel teacher.  We all dig one hole but with the love and support of my family and with determination, I will pull myself out of the deep hole I have dug. I will do everything possible to help myself, better myself, achieve my goals and get back to my family and back into the society,” he said.

His partner had said in a statement that he was a good father to his two daughters (aged one and three years) and that he had made his own family victims.

Toleafoa committed the crimes between December 2006 and December 2008.

In most places, he followed the pattern of approaching cash counters with a note saying that he was armed and hence his request for cash must be met.

The court heard that he went to the Headin Home Bar and Grill and TAB (Pakuranga) in December 2006 and walked away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Almost ten months later (October 30, 2007), he committed three offences within a two-hour period disguised in a red turban, sunglasses and fake beard, with a pistol concealed in his person.

His first attempt at the ASB Bank Manurewa was unsuccessful since he approached the information desk, which does not handle cash. He left the scene without an incident although he showed the usual note of threat.

Soon thereafter, he went into ANZ Bank in Manukau, where he was able to extract cash from the teller and the Headin Home Bar and Grill and TAB in Pakuranga, the same place at which he had committed the offence earlier.

On May 14, 2008, Toleafoa entered the Playaz Bar in Manurewa armed, with a sawn-off shotgun, disguised in an orange high visibility vest, sunglasses, a black wig and a beanie and walked away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Judge Dr Singh said the victims and the community should be protected.

“People like Toleafoa must be deterred from offending of this kind,” he said in his sentencing notes.