Jail term imposed for boyracer incident
Home detention was ruled out for a 22-year-old who caused $14,428 damage in a high profile boyracer incident in which a police patrol car was clipped in a getaway attempt in Deans Avenue.
Instead, Jessie Charles Ormandy, of Northcote, the father of a young child, was jailed for two years one month by Christchurch District Court Judge Tony Couch.
Ormandy had wanted the sentencing to be put off so that another address could be checked for its suitability for home detention, after the original address suggested had been rejected by probation.
But Judge Couch told defence counsel Tom Stevens that the sentencing should go ahead because home detention might not be an option – and it wasn’t. The jail term imposed was beyond the range where home detention can be considered.
Ormandy has served all of a four year eight month jail term for armed robbery involving a firearm.
He had only been out of prison a short time when he got involved in a fracas in Riccarton Road on December 31. A fight broke out between two women. When a man tried to break it up, Ormandy forced him to the ground and kicked him five or six times in the body and head.
Judge Couch said he could have caused a life-long head injury, or spinal injury, and jailed Ormandy for a year on a charge of assault with intent to injure.
A few days later, while he was on bail, Ormandy took a woman’s car using a set of modified keys and went joyriding around Christchurch at high speed, showing off to the mates he was riding with.
When police signalled him to stop he accelerated to 120km an hour near the Riccarton round-about.
He lost control, spun the car into the centre island and then into a tree. When he still tried to drive off he was blocked in place by a patrol car. Damage to the car he took and the patrol car totalled $14,428.
He pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully taking the car, driving while forbidden, reckless driving, and failing to stop for the police.
Judge Couch ordered him to pay reparations for all the damage, disqualified him from driving for 18 months, and jailed him for another 13 months – a total of two years one month.
Mr Stevens conceded that the driving and the assault had been hideous, but the probation report suggested Ormandy was not without hope. Home detention might be of more benefit than sending him back to prison where he would hang around with the same group of people as before.
Judge Couch said the driving offences had been premeditated because Ormandy had gone prepared with the modified keys. “It was out-and-out deliberate offending,” he said.
Category: Focus
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: