Aotearoa Natives’ short reign of terror

The Aotearoa Natives gang has left a trail of intimidation, arsons and drug offending in its short reign of terror over a West Coast town, police say.

Yesterday, gang prospect Blake Tomlin William Patterson was jailed by the Greymouth District Court for four years and two months on charges of arson, threatening, and selling meth.

He was one of four people with Aotearoa Natives gang links arrested last August.

Detective Scott Burrowes said the gang started operating on the West Coast about 2019, after South Island president Brad Kahui moved from Christchurch to Greymouth.

The gang set up a pad in Cobden after its Greymouth clubhouse was burnt down in an arson attack in 2020. The Cobden gang pad was also destroyed, in a fire that killed a man in July last year.

Burrowes said the gang had no more than six patched members in Greymouth, but had attracted other associates and prospects during its time on the Coast.

‘‘It’s an ethnic-based gang that originated in Hastings. It’s quite small,’’ he said. ‘‘Outside of Hastings and Greymouth, they don’t have any strong presence.’’

Kahui, who was a charismatic leader, claimed to be anti methamphetamine, and used this as a ‘‘control mechanism’’ to recruit young men by promising to help them get clean, Burrowes said.

However, the gang was ‘‘prolifically’’ involved in selling cannabis, and individuals were dealing small amounts of methamphetamine.

After the gang moved into a run-down house on Mawheraleased land in Cobden, several incidents involving arson, intentional damage and threats of violence caused neighbours to fear for their safety, Burrowes said.

In March 2022, firefighters were abused while trying to put out a fire at a vacant section in Peel St where gang members were camping next to the gang pad. A freelance photographer taking photos of the blaze was grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground, the court previously heard.

However, with the arrest of Patterson and three others last year, the gang’s presence had been thwarted.

In a victim impact statement at Patterson’s sentencing, Nikita Parker said she became a target for the Aotearoa Natives soon after she moved to Cobden because she did not agree with how the gang was operating and recruiting young men.

When a gang member allegedly burst into her house and beat up another gang member in front of her young child – something he has denied – she reported it to police.

She was so intimidated by the gang that she asked police not to act on the complaint until safety processes were put in place for her and her family.

The gang member who allegedly burst into her house was arrested and remanded in custody in May 2022.

On June 5, Parker had an axe put through her car window. On June 21, Patterson set her car on fire, allegedly at the arrested gang member’s request. The car exploded in a ball of flames outside her son’s bedroom window.

The arrested gang member was charged with using a cellphone in prison, and he and a 26-year-old woman and a 32-yearold man were charged with conspiring to commit aggravated robbery. The woman and 32-yearold man were also charged with unauthorised communication with a prisoner.

Burrowes said the Aotearoa Natives had only one or two members in Greymouth now. It was the only gang with a permanent base on the West Coast, but several other patched gang members – from the Nomads, Immortal Souls and the Mongrel Mob – lived in the region.

He encouraged the public to come forward with information about gang activity and not give in to intimidation. Those responsible would be held to account, he said.

‘‘If you keep choosing to not speak out because of fear, that gives them power.’’

Information can be given to police by calling 111 if a crime is happening, or 105 after the fact. Information can also be provided anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.