Teina Jareau Haddon was sent to jail for gun possession after Nelson shot her

But no one has been held to account on assault charges after a jury acquitted Haddon, the alleged main offender, of attempted murder, and also found him not guilty of an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Haddon, who was deemed by the Crown to be a continuing risk to the public, remains in prison for two years and nine months after admitting a charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm, plus another charge of breaching the conditions of his release from a previous court case. imprisonment.

During his trial, he pleaded guilty to the firearms charge.

Judge Dale La Hood said in sentencing today that he could not ignore the fact that the victim would not have been shot if Haddon had not had the loaded and ready-to-fire gun.

“I cannot ignore the consequences of the illegal possession and injuring the victim in a way he would not otherwise have suffered,” Justice La Hood told the Nelson Supreme Court.

The defense argued it was an accident, but the Crown said this could never be known.

Prosecutor Abigail Goodison said Haddon remained a “significant safety risk to the community” and should be convicted on that basis.

Haddon, 35, Anthony Sutherland, 34, and Stevie Ann Alekna, 41, were all charged in the days after the gathering at a small house on the outskirts of the city in late 2022.

Sutherland was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Alekna admitted to being an accessory after the fact of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but the plea was withdrawn and the charges dismissed following Haddon’s acquittal.

The chance meeting in a liquor store

The victim and his partner had recently moved to Nelson from Auckland.

On December 30, 2022, just before 7 p.m., they went to a liquor store to buy ice.

There they met Sutherland and his partner and began a conversation which led to the victim and his partner being invited to the house where Haddon was living at the time.

The evening progressed and everyone gathered in the lounge, drinking and listening to music.

Around 11 p.m., Haddon’s mood suddenly changed and he

retrieved a gun with a black silencer from under the table and pointed it at the victim’s face, about three feet away from him.

Judge La Hood said the fact the gun was loaded and cocked made it “extremely dangerous”, in addition to the fact Haddon was in a room full of drunk people, two of whom were young.

Without warning, Haddon pulled the trigger, but it did not fire.

He immediately reloaded it, the victim panicked, grabbed the silencer and pushed the gun nozzle away from his face.

Haddon pulled the trigger again and a bullet struck the victim in the left side of his chest.

The victim then ran outside and down the street towards a nearby Warehouse store, bleeding profusely. Once there, he kicked the windows and shouted for help.

A worker rushed outside and called emergency services, the summary said.

Police provided first aid until an ambulance arrived and took the victim to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery to remove a fragment of a bullet that had pierced his lung and liver before hitting the center of his back.

Haddon and others had then fled the home.

The police are investigating

In the days that followed, Sutherland was told he had to “take the blame” for what happened because he had taken the victim to the address.

A police search at a nearby address revealed a rifle that had been reduced to pistol size, but forensic examination revealed that this was not the weapon used by Haddon, even though the bullet fired from it compared to that of the victim.

A DNA sample from the grip matched Sutherland’s.

Police were focused on Haddon and quickly made a call for his whereabouts, including distributing his name and photo to the media and social media.

Police discovered he was being helped by others to avoid arrest, which led to them delivering letters to known associates warning they would be charged if they were found to be helping Haddon.

Surveillance of Sutherland’s cell phone showed he was “clearly aware” Haddon was wanted for the shooting.

On January 10 last year, Sutherland went to Nelson police station and said he shot the victim after “pulling a firearm from his trousers”.

He claimed that a struggle had occurred, that the shooting was an accident and that ‘Monster’ was not present at the time.

Police said the statement was untrue and was intended to help Haddon.

Three days later, Haddon was found in Alekna’s flat and attempted to flee through the back door, but was stopped by two officers and taken into custody.

Haddon poses an ongoing public risk

Goodison said Haddon was someone who “adhered to a code of loyalty” that was more important than the oath he took in court because he failed to disclose where he had placed the illegal firearm.

She said the crime had occurred shortly after he had served a “significant prison sentence” for violent crimes.

Haddon’s lawyer Thomas Harre said it emphasized the need for offenders like him to have “robust, sensible release plans”, which did not appear to have happened in this case.

Sutherland’s “unenviable childhood” included deprivation, violence, trauma and exposure to drugs and alcohol from the age of 10, meaning he was prone to a serious drug problem.

These were factors that led to him being sentenced to house arrest, where he could live with his sick mother.

Judge La Hood viewed prison as a step backwards, but warned Sutherland that any mistake could land him behind bars instead.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s Nelson-Marlborough regional reporter and has covered general news including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.