Hikairo Mace Ataria Mohi jailed for attempted armed robbery of teen trio at Helensvale Station

A young Gold Coast man armed with a steak knife, who attempted to rob three teenagers at Helensvale Station just 20 days after being granted parole, is facing possible deportation on character grounds.

Hikairo Mace Ataria Mohi leaving the Southport Watchhouse after being granted bail. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

A young Gold Coast man is facing possible deportation back to New Zealand after admitting to attempting to rob a trio of teenagers at Helensvale Station while armed with a steak knife just 20 days after being released on parole.

Hikairo Mace Ataria Mohi, 20, pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court on Wednesday to three counts of attempted armed robbery.

His offences were committed against three boys – aged between 12 and 14 – at Helensvale Station on April 1 last year at about 4.30pm.

The complainants were walking to the platform when they noticed Mohi following them.

They hid behind a vending machine but were located by the defendant, who initially seemed friendly enough, inquiring about their ages and where they lived, the court heard.

Hikairo Mace Ataria Mohi leaving the Southport Watchhouse after being granted bail. Picture: Mohammad Alfares

However, things soon took a dark turn: Mohi’s “demeanour changed” and he informed the trio they were to hand over everything they had, including their belts, otherwise “you’re getting stabbed”.

When Mohi began reaching into his satchel bag, the young trio fled and took refuge inside Westfield Helensvale.

Police attended a short while later and located Mohi at the station.

A search of his bag uncovered a steak knife, the court was told.

Mohi told the officers he had recognised one of the youths from a “prior altercation” but denied he had threatened to stab them.

Helensvale Station. Picture: Glenn Hampson

He was released on bail the following day but reimprisoned on April 3 after his parole was cancelled.

The court heard he had been granted parole just 20 days before the attempted armed robberies.

On March 12 last year, he was sentenced in the Southport Magistrates Court to seven months’ imprisonment for committing an assault occasioning bodily harm, punching a person in the head at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre.

Defence counsel Nick McGhee made lengthy submissions in a bid to save his client from automatic cancellation of his visa as a New Zealand citizen (it may yet be cancelled anyway on character grounds).

He said his client, at the time of committing the attempted armed robberies, was homeless, in financial strife, and facing relationship difficulties.

Mr McGhee told the court his client had a “highly dysfunctional upbringing” and was a regular witness to “pro-criminal activities”.

Judge Katarina Prskalo KC sentenced Mohi to 10 months’ imprisonment, suspended after serving two months, and placed him on two years’ probation.

Originally published as Hikairo Mace Ataria Mohi jailed for attempted armed robbery of teen trio at Helensvale Station