Pak’nSave security forced cucumber in accused shoplifter's mouth, then extorted him

A man who went through a supermarket self-checkout without scanning several items had a cucumber forced into his mouth by a security guard who then extorted money from him.

Security guards Laki Savelio and his co-offender Tiare Bishop accused several victims of shoplifting and extorted money from them at the Pak’nSave where they worked in January last year.

Savelio, 24, was sentenced in Manukau District Court this week for his role, which included a “degrading” act with a cucumber.

He and Bishop were employees of Retail Theft Control Security (RTC), which was contracted to provide security services to the Manukau, South Auckland, supermarket at the time.

Bishop has pleaded guilty to her role in the offending and will be sentenced in October.

According to the summary of facts, on a Saturday evening in January 2025, the first victim went through the self-checkout without paying for several items, including a plastic-wrapped telegraph cucumber.

On the way to his car, he was stopped by Savelio and Bishop, who made him go to their small, windowless office where they “repeatedly” accused him of shoplifting.

The man’s hour-long ordeal was captured on CCTV, starting with Savelio picking up a toy rifle and pointing it at the man, who put his hands up before swiping away the barrel with his hand.

Savelio then gestured at the man’s wallet and the man pulled out four $50 notes and put them on a shelf.

After 45 minutes, Bishop left the room and Savelio repeatedly leant towards him with the cucumber.

He made the victim hold the cucumber, pointed out the CCTV camera and switched off the lights.

Then he took the cucumber off the man and forced it either “against or into” the man’s mouth, the summary said.

The victim recoiled and Savelio withdrew the cucumber, turned it around, pointed the other end at the man and nodded at him.

The victim pulled it to his mouth, his hair falling over his face. Savelio brushed the man’s hair away so he could see the degrading act, again forcing the item into his mouth.

At one point, the victim made a praying gesture with his hands.

Eventually, Savelio turned the lights back on. He and the man then left the supermarket and, a short time later, Savelio and Bishop returned to the security room where they split the $200.

The facts showed Savelio later texted a friend, “just made $200 here at Manukau”, to which the friend replied, “I thought we were not allowed to do that anymore”. Savelio answered: “Only in Manukau with me uso.”

Later that month, Savelio and Bishop stopped a man who admitted forgetting to pay for a tin of baby formula.

Laki Savelio was sentenced in Manukau District Court. Photo / NZME

They extorted $400 from him and he was trespassed from the supermarket.

A few days later, the two security guards accused another man of stealing, but when he produced a receipt, they took it from him and refused to give it back.

In the security office, when the man threatened to call a union organiser, Savelio said he could leave with a warning.

The summary said the victim wanted proof they were up to no good, so he offered to pay the pair $100, which they accepted.

That same day they squeezed $300 out of a man who, the summary said, didn’t want to jeopardise his recently secured residency visa.

When spoken to by police, Savelio said he was doing his job as his boss had told him to.

‘Civil recovery’

The agreed facts said the owner of RTC claimed some of the security company’s clients wanted them to deal with alleged shoplifters with “civil recovery” instead of phoning police.

This method meant the alleged shoplifter had the opportunity to pay $396, which would go back to the store, and police wouldn’t be involved, the summary said.

But “civil recovery”, the summary said, required the supermarket’s duty manager, accused shoplifter and security staff to sign documents agreeing the process was “appropriate”.

And the security staff must be trained to carry out that function. Savelio was not.

A representative from Pak’nSave owner Foodstuffs told NZME there was no civil recovery policy in place at Pak’nSave Manukau during that time.

In court, Crown lawyer Emma Barnes said the first victim had been treated in a “degrading fashion” that was “particularly distressing” for him.

She said at the time the man was afraid of what might happen to him if he didn’t comply.

Savelio had shown a significant abuse of power and trust, she said.

Premeditation and a high level of intimidation and harm to the victims were also present, she said.

Barnes said she understood two of the victims had been compensated for their losses by Pak’nSave.

‘I should’ve known better’

Savelio’s lawyer Nicole Bristow said her client accepted that what he had done was “serious”, involving several victims and a misuse of his security guard position.

She sought a sentence discount for his previous good character, clean record and remorse, which she said was shown in a letter from him and a Corrections report.

Bristow pointed out that in the report, Savelio told the probation officer he “should’ve known better”.

He had family supporting him in court, she said, and meaningful family and community responsibilities including church and sport that could help with his rehabilitation.

She also said her client understood home detention would be a “lenient” sentence and would help him continue rehabilitation but with the “substantial restriction” and oversight by probation.

“He understands that a sentence such as that would be required to reflect his poor decision-making, lack of consequential thinking and financial management issues,” Bristow told the court.

Judge Gus Andrée Wiltens said it was “very difficult to understand” how Savelio, in working in the security industry, didn’t anticipate everything being caught on CCTV cameras.

The judge then detailed the effect Savelio’s offending had on his victims.

“These people had their rights trampled on by you,” he said. “You took them out of the community, into your little sphere, and kept them there.”

He said it was “very serious”, close to being a kidnapping situation and had ongoing consequences for the victims.

“They shouldn’t have been treated in this fashion.”

The judge acknowledged Savelio had two young children, was remorseful, pleaded guilty “relatively early” and his youth when discounting his sentence.

For one representative charge of obtaining by deception more than $1000, Savelio was sentenced to six months’ home detention.

The judge imposed 12 months post-detention conditions and ordered him to pay $750 to the victims not already compensated by Pak’nSave.

He said “unfortunately” Savelio’s career as a security officer was likely over and where he next went in life was up to him.

“Take advantage ... make sure you don’t come back.”

Ella Scott-Fleming has been a journalist for three years and previously worked at the Otago Daily Times, Gore Ensign and Metro Magazine. She has an interest in court and general reporting. She’s currently based in Auckland covering justice-related stories.