released CCTV footage<\/a> of the failed heist. <\/p>\nThere was also an after-hours TAB burglary with a hammer in which workers locked themselves in a back room as he took $2000 from the till; the aggravated robbery of another TAB in which he threatened workers with a screwdriver and stole $16,000; and an unsuccessful burglary of the same TAB on another occasion. <\/p>\n
He used stolen vehicles to travel to each heist, it was noted.<\/p>\n
Lisipa denied the allegations but an Auckland District Court jury found him guilty. <\/p>\n
Those crimes were committed nine months after Lisipa was released on parole for three aggravated robberies. He had been sentenced in 2010 to seven years\u2019 imprisonment with a minimum term of three years and nine months. He served the entire term. <\/p>\n
And in 2006, at age 17, he had been sentenced as an adult to two-and-a-half years\u2019 imprisonment for two robberies and four aggravated robberies. <\/p>\n
\u201cYours was plainly not a successful reintegration into the community,\u201d Judge Gibson noted in 2019 of the offending two years earlier. \u201cInnocent members of the public and employees at legitimate businesses were clearly placed at risk by you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Gibson noted Lisipa\u2019s \u201cfairly blase\u201d attitude towards his background and \u201ccalculated\u201d offending, along with his methamphetamine use, made the 2017 crime spree somewhat \u201cinevitable\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have had plenty of opportunities to try to rehabilitate yourself,\u201d Judge Gibson said.<\/p>\n
At the most recent sentencing, Judge Ryan quoted her colleague at length, describing Judge Gibson\u2019s remarks as \u201cprophetic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018Prospect of a different future\u2019<\/p>\n
While Judge Gibson had plenty of documents about Lisipa\u2019s criminal history, he was not given an independent cultural and background report. <\/p>\n
Such reports, which were more commonplace before lawmakers cut public funding for them in 2024, are intended to humanise defendants by showing how their often-traumatic backgrounds shaped them.<\/p>\n
New reports are not typically allowed for appeals, but the Crown did not oppose the appellate panel considering Lisipa\u2019s background. <\/p>\n
It showed Lisipa had started showing behavioural issues as early as 10, when he helped form a street gang.<\/p>\n
He was expelled twice starting in intermediate school and later joined two of his siblings in the Crips gang. He was sent to boys\u2019 homes in his early teens, followed by youth justice facilities and eventually prison. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis life went on a criminal trajectory as a result of wrong choices made when very young,\u201d the Court of Appeal noted, agreeing with the report writer that there was a sense of hopelessness from Lisipa because of him having been \u201cinstitutionalised\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows no other real life and in his short periods of release he struggles to cope,\u201d the appellate panel wrote. \u201cHis life history has left him with limited skills to assist.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he was \u201cbeginning to gain insight\u201d, the report writer said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis insight includes remorse for victims but also awareness of what he personally has missed out on,\u201d the Court of Appeal said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is said to be some awareness of a need to change.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rather than snuffing that potential for change, it should be nurtured, the judges decided. <\/p>\n
The appellate panel said Judge Gibson\u2019s decision to uplift Lisipa\u2019s sentencing by 18 months for his prior history was \u201cstern\u201d but not uncalled for in the circumstances. <\/p>\n
However, the district court judge\u2019s decision to impose another \u201cstern\u201d uplift of six months for having offended while on bail was deemed excessive and quashed. <\/p>\n
Additionally, the panel allowed a 5% reduction for the background report and his interest in rehabilitation. It brought his end sentence to 12 years and 10 months. His minimum period of imprisonment, which had been the maximum allowable two-thirds of his sentence, was quashed and replaced with the standard one-third requirement. <\/p>\n
![\"Serial]()
Serial robber Salemona Lisipa was caught on CCTV robbing an Auckland bank in 2017.<\/p>\n
The panel noted the Parole Board still might make Lisipa serve his entire sentence, described as a \u201csafety valve\u201d if he didn\u2019t show genuine efforts at rehabilitation. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, there is as noted the prospect that Mr Lisipa may be seeking a different future and it would be unfortunate if access to assistance with that transition were blocked,\u201d the judgment stated. <\/p>\n
\u201cFaced with a person as plainly institutionalised as Mr Lisipa, and presented with some prospects of change, we consider it correct to foster that opportunity, albeit against the background of what remains a necessarily lengthy sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resulting 10 months he spent on parole in 2024 and 2025 was the longest he had stayed out of prison in his adult life. <\/p>\n
\u2018Where\u2019s the chicken?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m here to deliver the chicken.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is what Lisipa said in February last year after he parked in the driveway of a stranger\u2019s home and walked up to the front door. <\/p>\n
Two adult sisters went to the front door, one holding an infant, and told him he must have the wrong address. The woman holding the baby attempted to push the door shut, but Lisipa had already positioned his body halfway in the doorway and pushed back.<\/p>\n
He shut the door behind him after he entered the house, with the likely purpose of trying to reduce witnesses, Judge Ryan said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the chicken?\u201d he asked the women repeatedly. \u201cWhere\u2019s the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
The mother started screaming and told her children to do so as well, hoping neighbours would hear. <\/p>\n
\u201cBe quiet,\u201d Lisipa ordered as he pulled a weapon out of his side bag. <\/p>\n
Court documents state the weapon was \u201ceither a knife or a gun\u201d, but Lisipa later said it was a knife and the judge agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt since there was no proof otherwise. <\/p>\n
Lisipa then put the knife away and focused on a victim\u2019s purse, removing a phone and wallet. He decided to abandon the endeavour after the children continued to yell for help. <\/p>\n
However, the vehicle he had parked in the driveway wouldn\u2019t start and he fled on foot. Police later found a case for an airsoft gun in the car. <\/p>\n
\u2018Nothing changes\u2019<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Luke Elborough told Judge Ryan last week that his client didn\u2019t realise children were in the home. But he clearly could have chosen to leave immediately when he saw the children, the judge responded, noting Lisipa instead decided to pull out the weapon.<\/p>\n
The lawyer also submitted to the court a letter of apology from Oranga Tamariki confirming that Lisipa\u2019s time in state care had been a traumatic experience. <\/p>\n
![\"Serial]()
Serial robber Salemona Lisipa sits in the dock at Auckland District Court while defence lawyer Luke Elborough (foreground) addresses the judge at his sentencing. Photo \/ Craig Kapitan<\/p>\n
The defendant\u2019s family described him as someone who still has a great deal of potential and hope despite his history and the most recent setback. <\/p>\n
Elborough said Lisipa had been working at a fresh start, remaining abstinent and starting a water-blasting business. But pressures mounted and he slipped after running into an old acquaintance from the criminal underworld, the court was told. <\/p>\n
Judge Ryan ordered a sentence of three years, taking into account the sentence he is already serving. She agreed with prosecutor Ruby van Boheemen that Lisipa should serve at least half of the latest sentence before he can apply for parole. <\/p>\n
The new sentence won\u2019t start until completion of the punishment or parole for his 2017 crimes. <\/p>\n
Lisipa still has a genuine desire to turn his life around, his lawyer said. But Judge Ryan responded that the assertion needs to be viewed with some scepticism given its repeat nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time he offends he expressed some sort of remorse … and every time nothing changes,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I can do to make him change. I know other people have tried.\u201d <\/p>\n
Craig Kapitan<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As he returned to Auckland District Court last week for the latest sentencing hearing, Judge Claire Ryan said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,6127,51,1558,45662,9767,1061,1349,7557,2070,305,42,1345,10053,78,3958,85587,685,305280,43,8442,19430,305279,5161,21413,3271,36653,170205,40,38,41,39,14047,379],"class_list":["post-620264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-already","tag-auckland","tag-been","tag-burglar","tag-burglary","tag-children","tag-court","tag-district","tag-full","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-home","tag-house","tag-in","tag-judge","tag-knifewielding","tag-last","tag-lisipa","tag-news","tag-prison","tag-robber","tag-salemona","tag-sentenced","tag-serial","tag-should","tag-terrified","tag-terrorising","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-way","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}