Dennis Te Hau: Logan armed robber in court, facing deportation

A Logan man is facing near-certain deportation after he was sentenced for a wild spree of offending which saw suburban residents terrorised.

A Logan truckie terrorised the suburbs over one wild morning, robbing an elderly lady at an ATM at knifepoint of $1500, stealing a tradie’s car and torching it.

Bethania man Dennis James David Kakara Te Hau, 44, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to a grab-bag of offences.

They included, most seriously, armed robbery, arson, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and possessing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine.

They also included a variety of summary charges, such as driving uninsured and unregistered vehicles, driving with false plates, and contravening an order or direction of police.

His serious offending commenced in Beenleigh on December 31, 2019, when he was pulled over on a motorcycle for a traffic stop.

Under his seat was uncovered about 24g of crystal substance containing 16g pure methamphetamine.

He was charged and granted bail, but 10 months later commenced a wild spree which would see him remanded in pre-sentence custody.

Bethania man Dennis James David Kakara Te Hau, 44. Picture: Facebook

About 8am on October 22 last year, a 69-year-old woman was attempting to deposit $1550 cash into a Commonwealth Bank ATM at the Logan Hyperdome shopping centre.

The victim noticed the masked Te Hau loitering near the ATM and waited until he decamped to make her deposit.

However, he returned mid-transaction, pulled a knife on her and took her cash after initially demanding her car keys.

He also emptied her handbag and took her iPhone.

Te Hau then decamped to adjoining Shailer Park, where he deposited two of the three knives he was armed with on a patio at Tuff Ct.

Then, at Sunata St, he stole a tradie’s idling Ford Focus, which also contained the tradie’s wallet and phone.

Police tracked the vehicle using the tradie’s mobile phone to Short St, Loganlea, where it was discovered engulfed in flames.

Te Hau was arrested a short while later and has spent the intervening period, a total of 378 days, remanded in pre-sentence custody.

Defence counsel Sarah Cartledge told the court her client moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1994 and had four children, a grandchild and two brothers who lived in Australia.

He was not, however, an Australian citizen, meaning he would face almost certain detainment by the Department of Immigration and deportation upon his release, Ms Cartledge said.

She told the court Te Hau worked a variety of jobs, including truck driving, labouring and warehousing, but faced frequent bouts of homelessness and unemployment due to his addiction to methamphetamine.

Justice Soraya Ryan sentenced Te Hau to four years’ imprisonment, suspended for an operational period of four years taking into account the 378 days he had already been incarcerated.