31 Oct 2014

Armed robber sentenced for hold-ups

1:39 pm on 31 October 2014

An armed robber who targeted tourists at some of Auckland's hot-spots has had two-and-a-half years added to his prison sentence.

John Koteka is already serving a sentence of 10 years and nine months in prison for two home invasions in 2010.

Koteka appeared at the High Court in Auckland this morning where Justice Peters sentenced him for five offences including aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.

He was out on bail last year when he held up a tour operator in the Auckland Domain before heading to Mt Eden where he approached a group of tourists and stole cash, a camera and a phone before firing his gun into the ground five times as he escaped.

Justice Peters said she would have sentenced Koteka to seven years but that would have resulted in a total sentence of over 17 years and was out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending.

Instead, she added two years and six months, bringing his total sentence to 13 years, three months and two weeks.