Zayne Gordon jailed for attempting to set Kaikohe police station on fire to impress a woman
While on bail, he turned up unannounced at his ex-partner's house on December 8, 2023, and she told him to leave.
He became angry, followed her up the hallway and put his hands around her neck, lifting her off the ground.
The victim's legs were kicking and she was struggling to breathe before he dropped her to the ground.
He was placed on bail again but missed two judge-alone trials for his driving charge and while on the run, strung out on meth, he chose to offend again.
Around 3.15am on December 12, 2024, CCTV caught Gordon running up the ramp of the front entrance to the Kaikohe police station.
He placed a Just Juice bottle that had tissue paper coming out of the top, essentially a Molotov cocktail, at the front door.
After setting the tissue alight, Gordon exited the view of the security camera.
When the tissue went out, Gordon returned and lit the bottle again.
This time it caught fire and exploded across the doorway, causing black char and cosmetic damage to the front of the station.
Throughout the incident, Gordon was recording on a phone and talking to someone off-camera.
Zayne Gordon was on the run when he tried to set a fire at the Kaikohe police station.
When arrested, he explained it was not a direct attack on police but that he was trying to impress a girl.
His court file listed nearly 30 hearings, including two judge-alone trials where witnesses were called but he failed to appear, along with repeated bail breaches and multiple arrest warrants.
Crown lawyer Danica Soich revealed Gordon's meth use started when he was 15, after being introduced to the drug by his mother.
Soich said his meth use contributed to his continual poor decisions.
'Not only did this potentially risk the safety of the police officers but it would have prevented police from responding to anything else in the community,' Soich said.
Gordon's lawyer Martin Hislop argued for a sentence of rehabilitation at the Grace Foundation, but Soich submitted his addiction was too severe.
Judge Tomlinson said Gordon's actions were foolish and childish.
'It's the sort of stuff you expect from a couple of teenagers who would put double happy fireworks into a mailbox, it's just idiotic.'
He said a police station should not be targeted.
'The scale of this is childish, and indeed, an unsophisticated attempt of arson. Essentially, you get the benefit of how hopeless you were at doing at.'
The judge acknowledged the risk to life was momentary and jailed Gordon for two years and three months on all charges.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Uber driver Jomon Perumayan Joseph loses job after stun gun found on his dashboard
By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice reporter of Jomon Perumayan Joseph was caught with a stun gun on the dashboard of his Uber vehicle. Photo: NZME An Uber driver was found with a homemade stun gun on his dashboard, which a judge has alluded to as being a method of protection for the man. Jomon Perumayan Joseph, 39, was stopped by police for an unrelated traffic matter in New Plymouth about 4pm on 13 November last year. At the time, he was operating as an Uber driver, according to a police summary of facts. Police spotted a "cylindrical device with two metal probes" on the dashboard of Joseph's vehicle. "An expert examination of the device determined it was a homemade stun gun of a form and size held in the hand, which had a push switch that latches when pressed to continually operate the device," the summary stated. Testing of the gun showed it would cause a severe electric shock, electrical burning and could render a person wholly or partially incapable of resistance. Joseph was charged with unlawful possession of a restricted weapon and, when speaking with police, said he made it "as an experiment". Jomon Perumayan Joseph appeared in New Plymouth District Court. Photo: NZME / Tara Shaskey On Tuesday, he appeared in New Plymouth District Court where he advanced an application for a discharge without conviction. Judge Ajit Swaran Singh said Joseph had reported making the stun gun was a "hobby" and he had no intention of using it on anyone. However, the judge noted that during his time in the courts he had seen many cases of Uber, taxi and bus drivers being attacked. "Understandably their concern is self-protection in the event of being attacked. "That is quite a common feature in a lot of offending. Be that as it may, you must understand that having weapons is not acceptable ... there are better ways of dealing with situations." In considering Joseph's application, Judge Swaran Singh said as a result of the charge, Joseph had lost his job as an Uber driver and his passenger licence endorsement had been suspended, "suffering a form of punishment already". The judge considered affidavits from Joseph, his wife and an immigration expert, as well as a presentence report which assessed him as a low risk of reoffending, his genuine remorse, and that he had donated $500 to charity. There were no aggravating features, such as the offending being drug or gang-related, and the immigration expert had advised a conviction could impact Joseph's prospects of remaining in New Zealand, and his possible migration to Australia. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Uber driver Jomon Perumayan Joseph loses job after stun gun found on his dashboard
Jomon Perumayan Joseph was caught with a stun gun on the dashboard of his Uber vehicle. 'An expert examination of the device determined it was a homemade stun gun of a form and size held in the hand, which had a push switch that latches when pressed to continually operate the device,' the summary stated. Testing of the gun showed it would cause a severe electric shock, electrical burning and could render a person wholly or partially incapable of resistance. Joseph was charged with unlawful possession of a restricted weapon and, when speaking with police, said he made it 'as an experiment'. Jomon Perumayan Joseph appeared in New Plymouth District Court. Photo / Tara Shaskey Yesterday, he appeared in New Plymouth District Court where he advanced an application for a discharge without conviction. Judge Ajit Swaran Singh said Joseph had reported making the stun gun was a 'hobby' and he had no intention of using it on anyone. However, the judge noted that during his time in the courts he had seen many cases of Uber, taxi and bus drivers being attacked. 'Understandably their concern is self-protection in the event of being attacked. 'That is quite a common feature in a lot of offending. Be that as it may, you must understand that having weapons is not acceptable ... there are better ways of dealing with situations.' In considering Joseph's application, Judge Swaran Singh said as a result of the charge, Joseph had lost his job as an Uber driver and his passenger licence endorsement had been suspended, 'suffering a form of punishment already'. The judge considered affidavits from Joseph, his wife and an immigration expert, as well as a presentence report which assessed him as a low risk of reoffending, his genuine remorse, and that he had donated $500 to charity. There were no aggravating features, such as the offending being drug or gang-related, and the immigration expert had advised a conviction could impact Joseph's prospects of remaining in New Zealand, and his possible migration to Australia. The possibility of deportation could also impact his family, the court heard. Judge Swaran Singh accepted that the consequences of a conviction were out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending and granted the discharge without conviction. But Joseph was ordered to pay $661.25 for the independent testing of the stun gun, and the weapon would be destroyed. Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 and is currently an assistant editor and reporter for the Open Justice team. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Bay of Plenty Snapchat predator Raveen Saily admits further offending
By Hannah Bartlett of Snapchat predator Raveen Saily has pleaded guilty to new charges related to grooming and indecent communication with an 11-year-old girl. Photo: NZME Warning: This story deals with details of sexual assault against young people, and may be distressing. Snapchat predator Raveen Saily was on bail, awaiting a rape trial , when he filmed a 13-year-old Rotorua girl performing a sexual act on him. Now it's been revealed the 23-year-old sent that video to an 11-year-old Auckland girl he'd met through Snapchat, whom he'd asked to be his girlfriend, and was also grooming. On Tuesday in the Tauranga District Court, Saily pleaded guilty to grooming for sexual conduct with a young person, indecent communication with a young person and distributing objectionable material. The charges all relate to the Auckland victim. He will be sentenced in December, along with charges related to the sexual violation of the 13-year-old victim from Rotorua. A police summary of facts reveals Saily met the 11-year-old through Snapchat in May 2024. At the time, he was awaiting trial on charges of indecent assault, rape and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, for an attack on a 16-year-old girl at the Arataki Community Centre in Mount Maunganui. He had also met that teen on Snapchat, where he used the alias "John", and was found guilty by a jury, on all six charges, in August last year. While awaiting trial, Saily continued to contact girls on Snapchat. This was despite bail conditions banning him from accessing the internet, having contact with anyone under 16, or leaving his Pyes Pā home at night. When spoken to by police about his contact with the 11-year-old, he told them he "probably did do these things, but he cannot remember specifics due to the volume of girls he was in communication with, and the time that has passed since his incarceration". Saily never met the 11-year-old victim in person; they lived in different cities and communicated on Snapchat. Their relationship was discovered when the girl's mother looked at her phone, saw the messaging and reported it to police. The police summary of facts stated that during a video call, Saily asked the girl to be his girlfriend. She told him she was only 11, and too young to have a boyfriend. However, Saily continued to pressure her until she agreed, and their conversations continued over text and Snapchat, and audio and video calls. She became "increasingly emotionally dependent" on Saily, believing she was in a relationship with him. Saily told the 11-year-old he loved her, while encouraging her to send him sexually explicit images. He would ask her to "get naked", and tell her about his sexual preferences, describing himself as "freaky". He told her she would be a "good SCAT girl", which describes sexual arousal from faecal matter. He would direct her to places in the house away from her caregiver, while on video calls, and instruct her to perform sexual acts while he watched. He told her he wanted to drive from Tauranga to have sex with her. In June 2024, he filmed the 13-year-old victim from Rotorua performing a sexual act on himself, and sent it to the 11-year-old. The video of the 13-year-old was sent between June 27 and August 27, 2024, with the video found by police when they examined Saily's phone, after arresting him. Last month, Saily pleaded guilty to charges related to the 13-year-old, including grooming, sexual connection with a young person, sexual violation, and possessing objectionable material. He had added that girl on Snapchat in May 2024, claiming he was only 16. He groomed her over a month and encouraged her to send him sexually explicit photographs. They met at night in June 2024, and he drove her to several private locations where he sexually violated her, at times as she cried in pain. She repeatedly told him to stop, but he told her to shut up. It was her first experience of sexual intercourse. This offending was only detected after police pulled the pair over during a routine police stop and became suspicious about their age gap. When being dealt with by police at the traffic stop, the defendant indicated he was not aware of the girl's age and tried to stop her from speaking to the attending officers. Because of the significant age difference between the complainant and the defendant, she was taken to her home and spoken to alongside her mother. That traffic stop happened on Saturday, August 24, just before Saily's Tauranga trial began on August 26. During the Tauranga trial, the court heard how the girl didn't know Saily's proper name, and he didn't use it on any of his social media profiles. They'd met up at Mount Maunganui's Bayfair mall, and then went for a walk to the nearby Arataki Community Centre. There, the girl said she had been forced to perform sexual acts after Saily threatened her with a knife. He then went on to rape and violate her. Saily claimed it had been consensual, but the Crown said this was "utterly fanciful", particularly given the "naive" girl had no sexual experience and it was the first time she'd met up with a boy alone. Saily is currently serving a sentence of nine years and two months' imprisonment for the Tauranga attack, and will be sentenced for the offending against the 13-year-old and 11-year-old in December. If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. This story first appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
