Stalker admits putting cement into car engine
A judge has suggested an Amberley woman takes out a harassment order against the stalker who was caught the night he filled her car’s engine and petrol tank with readymix cement.
The car was ruined, and the bill for a series of night-time visits by 52-year-old Peter Wolfe Casey will be put before his sentencing on December 19.
Defence counsel Kirsty May told the Christchurch District Court that it was hoped that Casey would be able to pay all the reparation before a restorative justice meeting was held with his victim.
Casey, a self-employed man, pleaded guilty to four charges of burglary, and was remanded on bail for his sentencing. Judge Raoul Neave said the meeting could go ahead but he did not want the victim to be placed under any pressure to attend.
“He (Casey) understands that completely,” Mrs May replied.
Judge Neave suggested to the police prosecutor, Senior Constable Logan Steele, that the police should encourage the woman to take out a harassment order or restraining order against Casey. Because they were not in a relationship, it was not possible for the court to issue a protection order against him.
The judge asked for a pre-sentence report, with a report on Casey’s suitability for home or community detention, and a reparation report.
Senior Constable Steele said the woman had a brief friendship with Casey, which had ended, but he had made a nuisance of himself ever since. On August 17 police were called to the woman’s address in Amberley because Casey was refusing to leave. Police issued him with a trespass notice not to return to the address for two years.
He went back nine nights later and filled the petrol tank of the woman’s car with 60 litres of fresh water, and put a painter’s rag in the exhaust pipe to immobilise the car and left.
A mechanic was called when the car would not start next morning and the fresh water was pumped out. The repair cost $173.
Five nights later, Casey came back and poured motor oil into the car’s petrol tank. A mechanic was called again and this time the repair cost $217.
On September 13, Casey spent time walking around the woman’s property at 3am, and looked through the kitchen window while she was watching television before turning off the power switch in the outside mains box. The woman called the police because she thought she was going to be attacked in her home.
Casey smashed a side window on her car before he left.
The next night, he came back and pried open the car’s petrol cap using a screwdriver. He poured dry ready-mix concrete into the petrol tank using a cut-down soft drink bottle he had brought. He then poured in water causing the concrete to set hard.
Casey then opened the bonnet, took off the oil cap and poured cement and water in there, filling the engine. It set hard, making the car irreparable.
The woman saw him and contacted the police who were nearby and saw him run out of the driveway into his waiting vehicle and leave the address. They followed him on State Highway 1 at excessive speed and caught him when the vehicle pulled over at Leithfield.
He denied being at the property, before the police arrested him, Senior Constable Steele said.
Category: Focus
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