Mane arrived at the Great South Rd hotel about 5.40pm on May 22 this year and 50 minutes later had a female associate knock on the victim’s door in an attempt to lure him out. The ruse worked and Mane approached him carrying a long-barrelled firearm concealed under clothing,

“After a brief verbal altercation, the defendant pointed the firearm at the complainant and jabbed him in the face with the barrel,” court documents state. “The complainant moved the firearm away from his face and fought back at the defendant, punching him in the face.

“When the defendant took a few steps backwards and raised the gun again, the complainant turned towards his room and went inside, shutting the door.”

That’s when Mane decided to fire the gun at the centre of the door, at about waist height.

“He then kicked the door several times and fired another shot towards the handle, damaging it,” documents state. “Unable to get inside the complainant’s room, the defendant left.”

Investigators found the gun the next day in the garden of a neighbouring property, just over a fence, police noted.

Mane later pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of another, which is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment.

“Mr Mane didn’t go to that address to seek out this man and shoot him,” defence lawyer Claire Robertson said this week, acknowledging that her client had the forethought to arm himself but insisting it wasn’t a “pre-meditated revenge” type situation.

“He appears genuinely remorseful for this,” she added. “He has shown real insight into his offending.”

But the judge noted that it wasn’t the first time the defendant claimed remorse after having shot at someone.

Mane was sentenced out of the High Court at Whangārei in September 2021 to three years imprisonment for a crime spree that included a shooting a year earlier followed by a weeklong manhunt.

He admitted to being in possession of a stolen pump-action shotgun in June 2020 when at age 19 he confronted a man with it in Moerewa, Northland, – prompting the man to raise his arms and back away. Police found the gun at Mane’s home later that day and tried to pull over his vehicle.

“You asked what the arrest was for before and you reversed the vehicle and drove away,” Justice Michael Robinson noted at the previous sentencing hearing. “The police pursued you. You drove along some railway tracks. You then abandoned the vehicle and you ran off on foot. The police did not locate you.”

A week later, Mane had another armed confrontation with a different man whose motorbike had just been stolen. The man showed up about 7.20am at a property where Mane was sleeping, suspecting an associate of Mane’s of having taken it. As the man tried to leave with his property, Mane hit him on the back of the head with another pump-action shotgun.

The victim and his associates backed away. He was about six metres away when Mane opened fire.

“A number of the pellets lodged themselves in Mr A’s legs and in his stomach muscles,” court documents state. “He fell to the ground. With assistance, he got into the car and was driven to the Bay of Islands Hospital.”

Given the remorse claim for the previous shooting, Judge Moses said this week that a 5% discount for remorse this time around would be generous.

Mane’s lawyer acknowledged his setback with the new charge but noted her client’s rough childhood, which included exposure to gangs and family violence.

“Unfortunately, against the background he has, it’s not going to happen overnight,” she said of his rehabilitation. “It’s not a case where all hope is lost.”

The judge agreed.

There’s no doubt, he said, that the defendant’s childhood “played its part in why you have been appearing in court on such a regular basis for a number of years”.

He allowed additional discounts of 10% for Dane’s background and 25% for his guilty pleas.

“You’re still a young man,” Judge Moses told him. “You’ve indicated you want to change … and I am confident you can do so. There will be people to assist you I trust you will make the most of the opportunities you are given.”

He denied the Crown’s request for a minimum term of imprisonment, leaving it to the Parole Board to decide when best to release Dane next time.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.

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