Bishop has pleaded guilty to her role in the offending and will be sentenced in October.<\/p>\n
According to the summary of facts, on a Saturday evening in January 2025, the first victim went through the self-checkout without paying for several items, including a plastic-wrapped telegraph cucumber.<\/p>\n
On the way to his car, he was stopped by Savelio and Bishop, who made him go to their small, windowless office where they \u201crepeatedly\u201d accused him of shoplifting.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s hour-long ordeal was captured on CCTV, starting with Savelio picking up a toy rifle and pointing it at the man, who put his hands up before swiping away the barrel with his hand.<\/p>\n
Savelio then gestured at the man\u2019s wallet and the man pulled out four $50 notes and put them on a shelf.<\/p>\n
After 45 minutes, Bishop left the room and Savelio repeatedly leant towards him with the cucumber.<\/p>\n
He made the victim hold the cucumber, pointed out the CCTV camera and switched off the lights.<\/p>\n
Then he took the cucumber off the man and forced it either \u201cagainst or into\u201d the man\u2019s mouth, the summary said.<\/p>\n
The victim recoiled and Savelio withdrew the cucumber, turned it around, pointed the other end at the man and nodded at him.<\/p>\n
The victim pulled it to his mouth, his hair falling over his face. Savelio brushed the man\u2019s hair away so he could see the degrading act, again forcing the item into his mouth.<\/p>\n
At one point, the victim made a praying gesture with his hands.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The facts showed Savelio later texted a friend, \u201cjust made $200 here at Manukau\u201d, to which the friend replied, \u201cI thought we were not allowed to do that anymore\u201d. Savelio answered: \u201cOnly in Manukau with me uso.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later that month, Savelio and Bishop stopped a man who admitted forgetting to pay for a tin of baby formula.<\/p>\n
Laki Savelio was sentenced in Manukau District Court. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
They extorted $400 from him and he was trespassed from the supermarket.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In the security office, when the man threatened to call a union organiser, Savelio said he could leave with a warning.<\/p>\n
The summary said the victim wanted proof they were up to no good, so he offered to pay the pair $100, which they accepted.<\/p>\n
That same day they squeezed $300 out of a man who, the summary said, didn\u2019t want to jeopardise his recently secured residency visa.<\/p>\n
When spoken to by police, Savelio said he was doing his job as his boss had told him to.<\/p>\n
\u2018Civil recovery\u2019<\/p>\n
The agreed facts said the owner of RTC claimed some of the security company\u2019s clients wanted them to deal with alleged shoplifters with \u201ccivil recovery\u201d instead of phoning police.<\/p>\n
This method meant the alleged shoplifter had the opportunity to pay $396, which would go back to the store, and police wouldn\u2019t be involved, the summary said.<\/p>\n
But \u201ccivil recovery\u201d, the summary said, required the supermarket\u2019s duty manager, accused shoplifter and security staff to sign documents agreeing the process was \u201cappropriate\u201d.<\/p>\n
And the security staff must be trained to carry out that function. Savelio was not.<\/p>\n
A representative from Pak\u2019nSave owner Foodstuffs told NZME there was no civil recovery policy in place at Pak\u2019nSave Manukau during that time.<\/p>\n
In court, Crown lawyer Emma Barnes said the first victim had been treated in a \u201cdegrading fashion\u201d that was \u201cparticularly distressing\u201d for him.<\/p>\n
She said at the time the man was afraid of what might happen to him if he didn\u2019t comply.<\/p>\n
Savelio had shown a significant abuse of power and trust, she said. <\/p>\n
Premeditation and a high level of intimidation and harm to the victims were also present, she said. <\/p>\n