At one point, the victim made a praying gesture with his hands as he recoiled from Savelio who had forced the cucumber into his mouth.
Savelio withdrew the cucumber, turned it around, pointed the other end at the man and nodded at him.
The victim pulled it to his mouth, his hair falling over his face.
Savelio brushed the man’s hair away so he could see the degrading act, again forcing the item into his mouth.
The victim wasn’t the only person targeted by the pair while they worked at the South Auckland supermarket last year.
The guards worked for Retail Theft Control Security (RTC), which was contracted to provide security services to the supermarket.
Both men were charged and Savelio was convicted and sentenced at the Manukau District Court in August to six months’ home detention.
Bishop is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13.
With the criminal case concluded, the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority has canceled Savelio’s certificate of approval and barred him from reapplying for four years.
Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority chairwoman Trish McConnell.
‘Disgraceful, wilful and reckless’
Savelio didn’t appear at a Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority hearing last month.
However, chairwoman Trish McConnell sanctioned the cancellation of his licence in his absence.
“As well as resulting in a disqualifying conviction, Mr Savelio’s behaviour amounts to misconduct as a reasonable person would consider such behaviour by a security guard to be disgraceful, wilful and reckless,” McConnell said in the decision.
“Police advise that the judge when sentencing Mr Savelio to 6 months home detention, said Mr Savelio was fortunate he had not been charged with kidnapping.”
Laki Savelio was sentenced in Manukau District Court. Photo / NZME
‘Just made $200 here at Manukau’
According to the summary of facts, the offending was all captured on CCTV.
It began with Savelio picking up a toy rifle and pointing it at the victim, who put his hands up before swiping away the barrel with his hand.
Savelio then gestured at the victim’s wallet and the man pulled out four $50 notes and put them on a shelf.
After 45 minutes, Bishop left the room and Savelio repeatedly leant towards him with the cucumber.
He made the victim hold the cucumber, pointed out the CCTV camera and switched off the lights.
He took the cucumber off the man and forced it into the man’s mouth, the summary said.
Eventually, Savelio turned the lights back on. He and the man then left the supermarket and, a short time later, Savelio and Bishop returned to the security room where they split the $200.
The facts showed Savelio later texted a friend, “just made $200 here at Manukau”, to which the friend replied: “I thought we were not allowed to do that anymore”. Savelio answered: “Only in Manukau with me uso.”
Later that month, Savelio and Bishop stopped a man who admitted forgetting to pay for a tin of baby formula.
They extorted $400 from him and he was trespassed from the supermarket.
A few days later, the two security guards accused another man of stealing, but when he produced a receipt, they took it from him and refused to give it back.
In the security office, when the man threatened to call a union organiser, Savelio said he could leave with a warning.
The summary said the victim wanted proof they were up to no good, so he offered to pay the pair $100, which they accepted.
That same day they squeezed $300 out of a man who, the summary said, didn’t want to jeopardise his recently secured residency visa.
When spoken to by police, Savelio said he was doing his job as his boss had told him to.
The agreed facts said the owner of RTC claimed some of the security company’s clients wanted them to deal with alleged shoplifters with “civil recovery” instead of phoning police.
This method meant the alleged shoplifter had the opportunity to pay $396, which would go back to the store, and police wouldn’t be involved, the summary said.
But “civil recovery”, the summary said, required the supermarket’s duty manager, accused shoplifter and security staff to sign documents agreeing the process was “appropriate”.
And the security staff must be trained to carry out that function – Savelio was not.
In August a representative from Pak’nSave owner Foodstuffs told NZME there was no civil recovery policy at Pak’nSave Manukau during that time.
For one representative charge of obtaining by deception more than $1000, Savelio was sentenced to six months’ home detention.
The judge imposed 12 months’ post-detention conditions and ordered him to pay $750 to the victims not already compensated by Pak’nSave.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
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