Monitoring ordered over loosening car wheels
A judge will regularly monitor an Ashburton man who has admitted loosening the wheelnuts on his ex-girlfriend’s car.
Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan will get three-monthly reports on Timothy Daniel Bradshaw about his progress on community detention and intensive supervision.
Bradshaw has also been ordered to pay $1239 for the damage caused when two of the wheels fell off the woman’s car on July 10, at Rolleston.
Bradshaw, a 21-year-old agricultural worker, had admitted two charges of unlawfully interfering with a car. One of the charges had been reduced from a more serious charge of endangering transport before he pleaded guilty.
The court was told that Bradshaw loosened the wheel nuts on the car on July 4 but the woman stopped and checked when the wheels began knocking. On July 10, police allege he took the nuts right off and the woman had only driven a short distance when two wheels fell off and the car came to a stop.
The woman was unhurt.
Defence counsel Bridget Ayrey said Bradshaw’s pre-sentence report was encouraging. He had been open and frank with his employer.
Crown prosecutor Sara Jamieson said there had been “real potential for serious harm” in what happened to the woman. “After the positive feedback from his employer, the Crown can consider that it is in everyone’s interests that he remain in employment,” she said.
Judge Callaghan said the offending occurred against a woman who had been his girlfriend and there had been talk of the two becoming engaged. “Clearly, you took the end of the relationship very badly.”
He said Bradshaw could easily have been sent to prison for what he had done. He accepted the Crown submission that it was important to keep him fully occupied in employment and doing something positive, as well as undertaking supervision.
“I will keep an eye on the sentence to ensure you are remaining offence-free and staying compliant with the supervision,” said the judge. He will get reports on progress every three months, and if Bradshaw breached the sentence he could be re-sentenced.
He ordered Bradshaw to remain on a nightly curfew during six months of community detention, and a year’s supervision, including judicial monitoring.
Category: News
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