The sentencing of the first of ten Mongrel Mob members in a violent kidnapping case provides a rare glimpse into the gang world.

Anthony Kevin Peters, 42, was sentenced to two years and two months prison in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.

Peters drove the van for other members who brutally beat fellow member Dawson Reihana for sixteen hours with knuckledusters and hammers in August last year. Reihana survived the ordeal.

Peters said he'd been attacked by his co-offenders weeks before the incident and thought he'd suffer the same fate as the hostage if he didn't drive the group around the city while Reihana was attacked.

Justice Mander said medical records backed the claims, so they were taken into consideration in the sentence.

Justice Mander also said he acknowledged Peters was the one in the group that suggested Reihana be taken to hospital, and offered him a cigarette.

University of Canterbury sociologist Jarrod Gilbert said Peters couldn't divorce himself of culpability, even though he showed sympathy. He said if you're involved and lend any form of assistance to the offence then you can and will be held culpable.

"This is what can happen in gang situations. Of course, there can be people who can get drawn along into acting they wouldn't ordinarily have."

Gilbert said it's unusual to hear of issues within a gang because of its no informing rule.

"You don't have people cooperating with the police, but in this instance clearly that has happened and it's opened a window to a fairly nasty world."