By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of 
McQuillan Tipu saw the woman counting her money in the gaming room and decided to steal it. Photo: rnz
A woman was robbed of her $2000 pokie winnings, then dragged across a carpark by the robber's car before being left unconscious with a broken arm.
Shortly before, on the evening of 15 March, 2024, McQuillan Tipu had gone into the gaming room at the Wairau Sports Bar in Glenfield, on Auckland's North Shore, where he saw the woman counting the money and putting it into her purse.
He followed her as she went outside and snatched her purse from her as she answered a phone call, Hastings District Court recently heard.
Tipu sprinted to a waiting car, where an associate who has not been identified was waiting in the driver's seat.
The woman chased him and reached the car as Tipu got into the passenger seat.
She pleaded for the return of her purse and tried to grab it but Tipu began slapping her arm repeatedly, trying to make her let go.
The driver accelerated away and somehow the woman got caught up in the moving vehicle.
She was dragged 15m, tumbling as the car sped away. She fell on to the concrete and was knocked unconscious.
A member of the public found the woman about 10 minutes later.
Ten days in hospital
The woman spent the next 10 days in hospital with a broken arm and concussion and required two operations.
Now, following the violent theft, Tipu, 30, has appeared in the Hastings District Court for sentencing on charges of theft, injuring with reckless disregard, breach of community work and assaulting and resisting a constable.
Judge Gordon Matenga sent him to prison for two years and one month.
The judge said Tipu's victim still feared going out at night. She used to enjoy going to the club but was now afraid to do so and could not relax.
Her injuries had made her very dependent on others, which put pressure on her whole family.
"The injuries made life extremely difficult," Judge Matenga said.
He acknowledged that Tipu was sorry for hurting the woman, and that events were not meant to turn out the way they did. There had been little premeditation.
"You went into the bar, you saw the complainant's money and you made the decision then and there to take it," he said.
Tipu skipped bail in Auckland and was on the run before being arrested on three outstanding warrants in Napier on November 6, 2024.
He tried to punch the arresting police officer twice in the head and repeatedly pushed the constable away before attempting to run off on foot.
This led to the charges of assaulting and resisting a constable.
Judge Matenga said Tipu had a "significant" conviction history, including three aggravated robberies and an assault with intent to injure.
In 2021, he was sentenced to 120 hours of community work, of which he had completed only nine.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
