Max Haniteli Vakapuna: Claymore Shopping Centre rap video riot sentence
50 young men, some brandishing machetes and baseball bats, stormed Claymore shopping centre to film a ‘rap video’ but what followed soon descended into chaos.
Macarthur
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Dozens of young men from Sydney’s south west rap scene rushed Claymore shopping centre, some wearing masks and carrying baseball bats and machetes, to film a video clip.
Chaos soon broke out and police say they arrived on September 16, 2019 to a gathering that had turned into an out-of-control riot.
Flares were thrown and glass bottles were launched at officers as they attempted to break up the group.
Max Hanteli Vakapuna, 21, of Leumeah was one member of the group arrested on the night.
Vakapuna, who works as a scaffolder, had been consuming alcohol when he arrived at the shopping centre, agreed police facts show.
Police attempted to negotiate with some of the members, but the mood turned hostile.
Vakapuna admitted to entering a police car and stealing a torch before he was spotted.
When officers attempted to arrest Vakapuna, they were inundated with men trying to push them away.
Police say they were punched and kicked by unknown persons, before Vakapuna ran from the scene.
Four months later in January, police noticed Vakapuna driving a Subaru Impreza hatchback while on a mobile phone.
Officers started a search of his car when an Adidas shoulder bag fell out.
Inside they found 27 pink and white capsules containing methamphetamine and 95 grams of cannabis in the car.
He was charged with two counts of drug supply, resist an officer and larceny.
In Campbelltown Court on Tuesday, Magistrate Ian Guy described Vakapuna’s involvement in the rap video as ‘silly behaviour.’
He said the ‘drug supply matters were more troubling’ and that Vakapuna was ‘tantalisingly close to ending up in jail.
Vakapuna was sentenced to a 12 month Intensive Corrections Order and a $1,600 fine.