Wehi Moana has been jailed for brandishing a knife at a shopping mall. Photo: NZME
A man who sent an Auckland mall into lockdown after walking through a food court and into stores while brandishing a knife claims he thought he was running from pursuers who were trying to "get him".
Wehi Moana, 33, entered LynnMall Shopping Centre on 1 December 2022, in an "agitated state".
He went into an electronics shop where he told a staff member he was being followed by three people.
Shortly after, he pulled out a large, serrated knife from his pocket and waved it around, saying it was "for protection" against the people who were trying to "get him".
He left the store, still brandishing the knife as he walked through the mall and crowded food court before entering a homewares store where he sat down with the knife in his hand.
A security manager talked to him before police arrived and arrested him without incident.
In addition to the large knife, police also found on him a small black knife and a used needle attached to a 1ml syringe.
The incident sent several stores into lockdown for about half an hour, frightening affected retail staff and evacuating shoppers.
On Wednesday, Moana appeared in Waitākere District Court where he pleaded guilty to the offending.
Defence lawyer Anton Heyns told Judge Andrea Manuel that Moana's mother and brother had died on the same day, almost a year before the shopping mall incident.
Moana waived his right to a pre-sentence report, saying more reports would simply impose the same conditions he had been under for years.
These conditions had "set him up to fail", he told Judge Manuel when asked if he was sure.
Pre-sentence reports compiled by the Department of Corrections assist the judge to make a fully informed sentencing decision and include information gathered from the defendant, whānau, friends, and relevant government agencies.
For the knife offence and charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and unlawfully taking a vehicle, Moana was jailed for 13 months.
He was supported by his partner who sat in the public gallery.
Judge Manuel said Moana had caused "chaos" but in some ways was vulnerable, believing he was being followed and suffering a relatively recent double bereavement when he offended.
She made an order for Moana's knives and drug paraphernalia to be destroyed.
In September 2021, Islamic State supporter Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen stabbed and wounded several shoppers during a terror attack at the Countdown supermarket in the same shopping centre before being shot dead by members of the police Special Tactics Group.
* This story was first published by the NZ Herald.