A former top sportsman serving 13 years in prison has appealed his sentence in court in Wellington.
Former New Zealand kickboxing champion, Shannon Eric Wilson, was jailed over two gunpoint hold-ups in Napier. The 32-year-old was sentenced to nine years for aggravated robbery and four for methamphetamine dealing.
The appeal lodged by Wilson’s counsel, Trent Petherick, asks that the sentences be served concurrently.
Justice Geoffrey Venning said the sentences were “quite different in nature”, and he could not see any basis for them to be served concurrently.
Mr Petherick blamed Wilson’s escalating addiction to methamphetamine for the crimes. He argued that prior to the drug offence, Wilson had a “modest criminal history”, stable employment, and had shown discipline through his sporting success.
Wilson was sentenced alongside 31-year-old Rick Jason Gibbins in the High Court at Napier. Both men, fathers of young children, are serving a minimum non-parole term of five years.
Despite denying involvement in the robbery of a Chubb Security branch in Onekawa, and the late-afternoon heist at a Westpac bank in Taradale two days later, Wilson and Gibbins were found guilty in May 2009.
Wilson was serving a four year jail term for the drug offence, committed in April 2008.
The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision.
3 News