A Black Power member has been sentenced to prison after instigating a dangerous shootout with rival gang members that started in Middlemore Hospital’s busy carpark.

The two groups then embarked on a wild car chase through South Auckland in which witnesses said more shots were fired from at least one of the speeding cars.

“Both vehicles were driven in a way that presented extreme danger to the public,” Judge Sharyn Otene said last week as Tipene Adlim Levi Kiel-Pirini appeared in the Manukau District Court for sentencing on his 35th birthday.

She warned his family at the outset of the hearing that prison could be the only outcome given what transpired.

The defendant, however, took the decision in stride. Although he showed no remorse for the Mongrel Mob associates he had shot at, he did express his regret for having put the public in danger.

“Thank you, Your Honour,” he said at the conclusion of the hearing, as his mother wept and his young children repeatedly shouted support: “Love you, Dad!”

Tipene Kiel-Pirini appears in court for sentencing after pleading guilty to opening fire in the Middlemore Hospital carpark during a confrontation with a rival gang member. Photo / Craig Kapitan

“I take full responsibility,” he added.

Court documents state Kiel-Pirini first showed up at Middlemore Hospital with a hand injury on the afternoon of January 4 last year.

He and his partner left the hospital around 5.30pm in their black BMW but returned just under an hour later - within minutes of a patched Mongrel Mob member, referred to by the judge as the “primary victim”, and three associates arriving at the hospital in a Holden.

Most of what followed was pieced together through CCTV.

Menacing drive-by, then gunfire

The victim, on crutches, was walking towards the hospital when Kiel-Pirini’s vehicle drove slowly past. He decided to turn around and walk back to his associates who had been waiting in the rear seats of the parked Holden.

Kiel-Pirini’s vehicle then U-turned and he slowly drove past the other man again.

“When he was approximately 20 metres past [the victim], the defendant leant out the front passenger window of the BMW and aimed a firearm...”, the agreed summary of facts states.

He didn’t fire that time, but there was another U-turn and he exchanged words with the other men.

Tipene Kiel-Pirini fired a gun during a confrontation in the Middlemore Hospital carpark. Photo / Doug Sherring

Another associate of the Mongrel Mob member, who had initially remained in the Holden, then emerged wearing a balaclava.

The victim’s group started advancing towards Kiel-Pirini’s car, the balaclava-clad man holding his left hand inside his sleeveless jacket. Kiel-Pirini’s BMW passed the group one last time, with him opening fire roughly 15-20 metres past the other vehicle.

“The associate in the balaclava ducked as the shot was fired,” court documents state. “A civilian witness walking to her parked vehicle about 10 metres behind [the Mongrel Mob member] also took evasive action.

“The carpark was moderately full at the time, with a steady stream of traffic entering and leaving the hospital, and a number of people walking to and from the hospital entrance.”

Dangerous pursuit

Kiel-Pirini’s car drove off at speed. The other men jumped in their Holden and gave chase.

Two witnesses driving along Swaffield Road in Papatoetoe would later describe to police hearing shots as both the BMW and the Holden approached from behind.

“Both vehicles sped past the witnesses on the wrong side of the road, exceeding the 50km/h speed limit,” court documents state. “After passing the witnesses, one of the people in the Holden leant out of the Holden and fired a shot at the BMW.”

Tipene Kiel-Pirini appears in court for sentencing after pleading guilty to opening fire in the Middlemore Hospital carpark during a confrontation with a rival gang member. Photo / Craig Kapitan

Both vehicles continued on, driving on the wrong side of the road at some points and running a red light at a busy intersection. The man in the balaclava fired again, according to court documents.

Later that evening, a police helicopter spotted Kiel-Pirini’s vehicle parked outside a Manurewa home. Shotgun spatter marks could be seen on the back of the vehicle.

A subsequent search of the home netted two guns that had been concealed behind a couch: a pump-action shotgun and a .22 calibre rifle with a pistol grip that roughly matched the gun seen in the hospital shooting.

‘Extreme risk’

Given the CCTV footage and Kiel-Pirini’s admission to police on the day of his arrest that he was at the scene of the shooting, the case against him had been strong from the start, Crown prosecutor Aminiasi Kefu indicated at last week’s sentencing hearing.

“He says that he was just shooting in the air,” Kefu added. “That is not seen in the CCTV footage.”

Defence lawyer Baden Meyer insisted that his client did not aim directly at the group but emphasised Kiel-Pirini didn’t wish to make excuses.

“This was an extended moment of madness that has no place in a civilised society - by his plea, Mr Pirini accepts that,” he said. “It was entirely inappropriate.”

Defence lawyer Baden Meyer, photographed in 2012. Photo / Michael Craig

But there was a context to what happened, he said. There was a history between the two men not spelt out in the summary of facts but alluded to by Kiel-Pirini in a pre-sentencing interview. The defendant said the group had shown up at his house earlier.

Of course, that doesn’t excuse having returned to the hospital with a loaded gun, both lawyers and the judge agreed.

Kiel-Pirini faced up to seven years’ imprisonment for discharging a firearm with reckless disregard for the safety of others and up to six months for the time he pointed the gun but didn’t fire.

“The discharge of a firearm in a hospital carpark ... presented an extreme risk of significant if not lethal harm,” the judge said, ordering a starting point of four years and three months’ imprisonment.

That was then increased by a year to account for a January 2024 motorbike crash in which Kiel-Pirini and a child passenger were both hospitalised with serious injuries. Neither were wearing helmets, Kiel-Pirini was unlicensed and he was found to have cannabis in his system, although not at a level considered high risk, the judge noted.

She allowed 30% in total reductions for his guilty pleas and his troubled background but declined a remorse discount given his specification that he only felt bad for the danger he caused to the general public.

It resulted in a sentence of three years and eight months’ imprisonment.

‘Chaotic’ childhood

Kiel-Pirini’s lawyer had earlier suggested it wasn’t surprising that his client had followed his father’s footsteps into gangs due in part to “a life that has been unkind to him in some early stages”. Gangs and drugs were his way of coping with the trauma, Meyer said.

The judge agreed.

“I am satisfied his chaotic, unstructured life and early exposure to gangs has contributed causatively to this offending,” she said.

But there’s also reason for some hope, she noted, pointing out that the defendant has sought segregation while in custody to remove him from gang activity.

No victim impact statements were offered during the hearing. Gang members rarely co-operate with court matters, even when on the receiving end of a crime.

Police have filed a separate set of charges against a person accused of having been the balaclava-clad shooter. He has pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.