Christopher Millen hid in dense bush in the Athenree Gorge for about five months after he attacked a man with a machete.
When Christopher Millen turned up at a woman’s house in Waihī to collect $20 he said he was owed, he had a “large machete” hidden under his clothes.
Confronted by a man visiting the woman, Millen swung out with the machete, causing wounds to the man’s abdomen and back, before Millen went on the run and hid out in the bush in the Athenree Gorge for five months.
While there, he got hold of a firearm and ammunition, tools and equipment, and a sheep from a nearby property and camped in a “heavily camouflaged” makeshift campsite.
Waihī police caught up with Millen in August 2024, after locating the campsite and getting help from the Special Tactics Group, Armed Offenders Squad and police helicopter.
On Wednesday, having pleaded guilty and accepting an earlier sentence indication, the 48-year-old was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court to six years’ imprisonment.
‘I’m going to cut you up’
The court heard Millen arrived at a Waihī woman’s home, yelling for $20 he said he was owed, and banging on the back door.
Her visiting ex-partner came to the back door to ask what was going on.
Millen pulled out the machete and swung it several times, slicing the man’s stomach.
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The man tried to push him off, but fell to the ground.
Millen said, “I’m going to cut you up”, before he struck the man’s back with the machete.
The man got to his feet and grabbed a branch to defend himself.
Millen took off, smashing the window of the woman’s Holden Commodore as he fled.
The man Millen attacked ended up hospitalised with wounds to his abdomen and back.
Five months in the bush
After the machete attack, Millen was living rough in the bush in the Athenree Gorge, and “actively evading police”.
Waihī police Detective Glen Ewing said on August 12, 2024, police discovered where Millen was camped out.
They knew he was “armed, highly motivated to evade arrest and in a difficult to access location”, so they enlisted the help of Police Special Tactics Group (STG), Waikato Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) and the police Eagle helicopter.
The Eagle located Millen’s campsite and confirmed he had a long-barrelled firearm.
Millen ran from police, discarding the firearm along the way, before STG officers apprehended him “without incident”.
Ewing said the firearm Millen discarded was found with ammunition in the magazine.
“A search of Millen’s makeshift campsite, which was heavily camouflaged, located numerous stolen items and further ammunition,” Ewing said.
Near where he had set up camp, there was a secluded property owned by a retired couple with a cottage and a main house that was under construction.
Between March 24, 2024, and April 19, 2024, Millen visited the property several times, stealing tools, equipment and a sheep, to the value of $3625.59.
On April 21, he returned again, causing about $800 in damage to a door and window to get in, and then stealing a .22 calibre rifle and ammunition.
On April 27, he came back again, this time with the previously stolen rifle. He broke into a shed and stole $369 worth of tools and equipment.
The owner had installed CCTV cameras after the previous burglaries, and these notified him of movement around the shed.
He wasn’t home at the time but returned to investigate, calling out “come out, identify yourself” as he got out of his car.
He didn’t see Millen, who fled into the bush, and it wasn’t until August that police were able to find him.
At sentencing, Judge Arthur Tompkins gave a 25% discount for guilty plea, but also imposed an uplift for Millen’s previous offending.
Given Millen’s struggles with drug addiction and the role this had in his offending, the judge decided to give a “small additional discount”.
“But not otherwise given the fact that, in particular, Mr Millen went on the run and was at large for some months,” Judge Tompkins said.
“And given the danger which an offender represents to the community by the possession of firearms.”
The judge sentenced Millen to six years’ imprisonment on the charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and three burglary charges.
On the unlawful possession of a firearm charge, Millen was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, and for the two charges of intentional damage, he was also sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, all to be served concurrently.
The judge noted the impact the offending had on the retired couple Millen stole from and the damage caused to the home they were building.
A reparation order of $2625 was made for the damage caused, and there was an order made for the destruction of the firearm.
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.
