Gang member who fatally shot man in Ponsonby deemed 'low-risk' by Corrections

12:35 pm on 10 May 2024
Police investigating the death of a man in Ponsonby on Sunday evening are releasing a photo of the offender. Detective Inspector Chris Barry, Auckland City CIB, says Police are on Monday releasing an image of a man sought in connection with an incident on Ponsonby Road on 5 May 2024.

Hone Kay-Selwyn. Photo: Supplied / Police

The gang member who fatally shot a man in Ponsonby last weekend was deemed to carry a low-risk of reoffending by Corrections, after he assaulted someone in 2020.

Hone Kay-Selwyn, 31, shot dead Robert Horne - who police believed to be unknown to him - just after 10.15pm on Sunday.

Kay-Selwyn was found dead at a property in Taupō on Tuesday.

Court documents reveal Kay-Selwyn was sentenced to five months' community detention and ten months of supervision, after assaulting a stranger at a Taupō strip club in 2020.

The documents said Kay-Selwyn was at the Sin City strip club on 1 February, 2020, with his associates from the Killer Beez.

They said he had punched a man to the ground outside the club, after what appeared to be a dispute over a spilt drink.

The victim suffered significant cuts, swelling and bruising to his face and head, and was hospitalised.

Prior to that assault, Kay-Selwyn had one conviction of possession of cannabis plants in 2018.

He had also breached bail in the lead-up to the sentencing for the Taupō assault.

A pre-sentencing report relating to the assault said given it was his second conviction, the risk of reoffending was low.

"He has no previous history of violence and as such his risk of harm to others may also be assessed as low," the report added.

The report noted Kay-Selwyn said he was bullied in school, and dropped out not long after joining the Killer Beez gang at the age of 14.

Kay-Selwyn said his membership to the Killer Beez provided him a "sense of belonging".

He told a probation officer that looking back at his life he regretted his "wasted years" and wished he could go back to primary school and make changes.

The report also said Kay-Selwyn had been endeavouring to distance himself from criminal associates since the assault.

However the report said it had concerns with Kay-Selwyn if he failed to distance himself from criminal associations and find gainful employment.

The report said Kay-Selwyn had been in and out of employment since leaving school at the age of 15.

Kay-Selwyn said his longest form of full-time employment was for 15 months with New World in the butchery department, and then as an acting assistant manager in the storeroom until the job ended at the end of 2014.

He subsequently started a trade course in Unitech but only managed to attend for three months.

The report said Kay-Selwyn admitted that he would sometimes drink excessively and was a heavy cannabis user.

The report recommended that Kay-Selwyn would benefit from a violence prevention programme and other counselling programmes.