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Two young men feared they were going to die when a drug-using gang member they didn’t know kidnapped them in their car from Hawke’s Bay’s Te Mata Peak.

Haylen Toi Tahau, 35, assaulted both victims and told one of them he “wanted his blood on his body” during the early-morning ordeal.

After taking over the driver’s seat of the victims’ car, and with them both still in the vehicle, he drove at speed towards trees and power poles and deliberately swerved into oncoming traffic, laughing and taunting his victims.

He told the young men he had spent his whole life in prison for murder, which wasn’t true, and wanted to murder again.

He was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the offending on November 24, 2024, a court has been told.

Tahau eventually dropped the men on Pilcher Rd, near the Mangateretere roundabout on the road to Clive, about 18km away from where he kidnapped them at the main carpark on Te Mata Peak.

Despite his claim to have spent his whole life in prison, the Napier District Court was told on Friday that Tahau did not have a criminal record, apart from a drink-driving charge, until he decided to join a gang in his mid-20s.

“It seems your criminal history commences when you joined the gang,” Judge Bridget Mackintosh said.

In fact, in his youth, Tahau had been a promising sportsman who played for the Hawke’s Bay Hawks and New Zealand age-group basketball teams.

Tahau appeared for sentencing after pleading guilty to kidnapping, robbery, assault, injuring with intent to injure, threatening to kill, reckless driving and theft.

Judge Mackintosh sent him to prison for four years.

The judge said she had received impact statements from both the victims’ mothers, which detailed their mental health struggles since the kidnapping, along with trauma, flashbacks, anxiety and depression.

This had affected the young men and their families, she said.

“The flow-on effect through both these families has been quite significant.”

Judge Mackintosh cited the trauma when she made an order suppressing both victims’ names.

Haylen Tahau, pictured in 2006, was a promising basketball player in his teens and did not choose gang life until he was in his mid-20s. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

A Crown summary of facts said the two men were sitting in a vehicle on Te Mata Peak about 6am on Sunday, November 24.

Tahau and the men were not known to each other.

Tahau approached them and asked them where they were from, telling them he “runs Hastings”.

He walked to the driver’s door, opened it and pulled the driver out of the vehicle, punching him in the cheek.

He ordered the man to get into the back of the vehicle, which he did.

Tahau then got into the driver’s seat and lifted his hoodie to reveal a large Mongrel Mob tattoo on his back, telling the men about his gang affiliation and barking.

He asked the man in the passenger seat if he had a gun, as he needed one, and became angry when he was told the victim did not have one.

He punched the passenger in the face at least four times, causing his nose to bleed.

Car doors were locked

Tahau then locked the doors of the vehicle and drove down Te Mata Peak Rd, through Havelock North and into the countryside.

As he drove north on Te Mata Mangateretere Rd, he swerved towards other vehicles, trees and power poles, travelling at excessive speeds.

He laughed as he did this, taunted the victims and told them he was going to kill them.

“The complainants feared they were going to die,” the summary of facts said.

After he let them out of the car, Tahau drove off in the vehicle, which police found later that day at his home.

Judge Mackintosh said Tahau did not have any convictions apart from a drink-driving charge until 2018.

He had joined the gang in his 20s and “life has spiralled downhill since”, the judge said.

In recent years he had picked up convictions for taking motor vehicles and burglary, escalating into violence and domestic violence.

“Sadly, everything has unravelled into this mess,” the judge said.

“It is a really sad situation.”

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined ��һ�ǿ�����’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.