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Cigarette denial sparks gang member’s brutal attack

Marty Sharpe

When a neighbour declined to give a young Hastings man a cigarette, he responded by trying to kill her in her home.

K-Cyn Nathan, a 22–year-old Mongrel Mob member who was on bail at the time, later bragged to a friend he had ‘‘just popped a bitch’’, a court was told.

Nathan had recently moved into a Kāinga Ora house in Lowe St, in the suburb of Camberley, with his partner and family in the middle of last year and was known to visit neighbours to ask for cigarettes or food. About 11am on August 26, he revisited a neighbour who had previously declined to give him a cigarette. Armed with a 15cm long kitchen knife, Nathan knocked on the front door of the address.

When the man opened the door, Nathan asked ‘‘You all good?’’ The man replied ‘‘Yup.’’

Nathan then stabbed the man in the stomach, causing a 5-6cm deep wound. The man stepped back and locked himself in his house.

His sister, who lived with him, called an ambulance.

A week later, about 8pm on August 28, Nathan went to another house on the street, armed with a screwdriver.

He knocked on the door and a woman answered. When he asked for a cigarette she declined.

Nathan became angry. He punched her in the face, causing her to lose balance. She tried to close the door on him but Nathan forced his way inside the house.

In the woman’s lounge, Nathan punched and stabbed her all over her body.

He stabbed her 13 times to her head and neck area – including under the right eye and to the left eyebrow. Another wound penetrated her throat and one wound narrowly missed her jugular vein.

Nathan then stabbed her 10 times to the chest area and limbs before kicking her in her throat and stomping on her face four times.

The woman was knocked unconscious. The last thing she remembered was Nathan stomping on her head and yelling: ‘‘You’re dead, bitch.’’

When she regained consciousness about two hours later she called an ambulance.

She required emergency surgery for multiple stab wounds, a punctured lung, multiple fractures to the bones around both eyes, a mild to moderate concussion, and a broken right thumb that required temporary wire to repair.

After the assault Nathan returned to his home, where he told his partner’s friend: ‘‘I just popped a bitch’’. The injured woman spent several days in the Hawke’s Bay Hospital intensive care unit and suffered permanent injuries.

Nathan’s offending occurred while he was on bail and during the Covid lockdown.

He was captured by police after the second attack and has been in custody since then.

Nathan appeared in the High Court at Napier yesterday and pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He will be sentenced in February.

News

en-nz

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-03T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281638194229104

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