There is a need to denounce and deter both crimes, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to understand that this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coward punch, then head kicks<\/p>\n
Court documents state Vaikeli was one of four people arrested just after 4am on a Saturday last March when the first incident took place.<\/p>\n
Three people were walking up Mayoral Drive in the city centre when Vaikele and his co-defendants quickly stopped their BMW on the side of the road and rushed the trio.<\/p>\n
CCTV recorded the following \u201csustained assault\u201d on two of the victims.<\/p>\n
After a co-defendant knocked the first victim to the ground, throwing punches and kicking him in the head, Vaikele jumped in and continued the pummeling, police said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant Vaikeli sat on the victim … and punched him in the head multiple times,\u201d the agreed summary of facts states.<\/p>\n
When the second victim approached, trying to intervene, another co-defendant came up from behind and knocked him to the ground with a coward punch, court documents state.<\/p>\n
The intersection of Mayoral Drive and Vincent St in Auckland Central was the site of a violent head-stomping attack in March 2025. Declan Vaikele has been sentenced to prison for his part in the incident. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
\u201cThe defendant Vaikeli proceeded to strike and then kick the victim … in the head with his right foot,\u201d court documents state, explaining that he then stomped on the victim\u2019s head at least four times.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe walked away briefly before coming back again. He then placed his right foot on the victim\u2019s chest, pulled the victim\u2019s hair with his right hand, slapping him once and then kicking him twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second victim was able to get up and stumble across the road, followed by two of Vaikeli\u2019s friends, as the defendant returned his attention to the first victim. He also pulled that man up by his hair and slapped him before Vaikele and his mates fled the scene with the first victim\u2019s shoes.<\/p>\n
Police, however, caught up to them a short time later.<\/p>\n
Both of the attacked men reported bruising and swelling, but there were no reports of major injuries. That wouldn\u2019t be the case the next month, when the second confrontation sent a man to the hospital<\/a> needing emergency surgery.<\/p>\n Shot in the back<\/p>\n On the second occasion, Vaikele and three associates were on Fort St in Auckland Central just before 4am on a Sunday when one of his friends initiated a fight with several strangers with another coward punch. <\/p>\n The fight spilled into a nearby kebab shop before others joined in, throwing punches outside.<\/p>\n Vaikele, who was on bail for the previous incident, initially stood on the other side of the road, watching as one of the complainant\u2019s friends tried to break up the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this happened, Mr Vaikele pulled out a makeshift firearm known as an improvised pipe-gun containing shotgun ammunition from his backpack,\u201d court documents state.<\/p>\n He approached the first victim and pointed the gun at him.<\/p>\n \u201cChill,\u201d the victim told him, explaining he was friends with the security guards. <\/p>\n Vaikele then walked up to a second victim with the gun drawn and pointed it at his back. His homemade gun malfunctioned the first time he tried to fire it, but he put it back together and took aim again at the other man\u2019s back.<\/p>\n The victim held his back in pain and tried to walk away before collapsing.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Vaikeli continued running around Fort St holding up the pipe-gun, waving and pointing it at people, threatening to shoot them,\u201d court documents state.<\/p>\n \u201c[He] repeatedly shouted \u2018twenty-eights\u2019 before walking away …\u201d<\/p>\n Gang affiliation was not discussed during the sentencing, but the Two Eight Brotherhood, also known as the 28s, is a relatively low-profile South Auckland gang.<\/p>\n Unco-operative victim<\/p>\n Vaikele was initially charged with injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, punishable by up to 10 years\u2019 imprisonment, for the head-stomping incident. The charge was later reduced to one that carries a five-year maximum.<\/p>\n But he faced up to 14 years\u2019 imprisonment for the wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm charge involving the firearm.<\/p>\n Vaikele\u2019s lawyer noted that the defendant\u2019s family had watched his well-being deteriorate and his drug use increase after his mother\u2019s death in 2021.<\/p>\n Vaikele said he was bingeing on alcohol, methamphetamine and cannabis at the time of the incidents.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t a case where there\u2019s been serious harm that\u2019s been life-changing or lasting in any way,\u201d Teppett said.<\/p>\n Prosecutors, however, said the victim has not engaged with the court process, so they don\u2019t know what lasting impacts his injuries might have had.<\/p>\n Multiple shotgun pellets had to be removed from his body.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a serious injury,\u201d Crown prosecutor Kiani Bullivant told the judge. \u201cIn the scale of wounds, it was quite large.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Maxwell stated several times during the hearing that she was most worried by the makeshift nature of the gun.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears you were quite familiar with its operation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The judge ordered a starting point of seven years for the shooting, then added a year for the earlier head-stomping incident, noting that the stomp sentence could have been as high as three years on a standalone basis.<\/p>\n She settled on a final prison sentence of five years and one month after factoring discounts for Vaikele\u2019s guilty pleas, remorse, rehabilitation efforts and some adversity in his childhood, as well as a one-month uplift for offending on bail.<\/p>\n The judge accepted that Vaikele probably didn\u2019t set out that night to shoot that specific victim. But there was a level of premeditation nonetheless, she told the defendant.<\/p>\n There was no question that assembling a makeshift gun was a bad idea, and that concealing such a weapon in a backpack on a night out was even worse, she said. He did that, she said, \u201cfor reasons only known to you\u201d.<\/p>\nPolice investigate the scene of a shooting on Auckland’s Fort St in April last year. Declan Vaikele has since been sentenced to prison for the shooting. Photo \/ Katie Oliver<\/p>\n