Teen opts not to follow dad’s example
After three weeks on remand in prison – during which he had his 18th birthday – Riki Mace has decided he does not want to be like his dad.
Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave had been hoping that would happen if Mace was given a taste of where he was heading.
He had remanded the young high-risk offender in custody with just that in mind, and had him back in court for sentencing today.
He asked Mace if he had the will to change the growing criminal pattern of his life.
“Yes,” Mace replied from the dock. “I’ve got the support of my family and the motivation to want to change my life and not be the same as my dad.”
His mother was in court and said that she had spoken to him every day and had seen a big change in him. “He doesn’t want to be going down this path. He wants to get better,” she told the judge.
He has been in custody since October 14, without access to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Judge Neave had said at the appearance in October that he had seen the sentencing file on the youth’s father, in circumstances that must have been pretty traumatic. “He’s not had the best of examples,” said the judge. “I am aware of the horrible influence your father has been on your life.”
Mace had pleaded guilty to charges of damaging a passing car by kicking a panel at Westfield Mall when he was cross about security staff, spraying graffiti around Diamond Harbour, unlawfully taking and driving a car when he was disqualified, receiving an iPad stolen in a burglary, and doing a petrol drive-off theft.
The day before he was due to be sentenced last month he stood over another youth, while he had a blue bandanna over his face, and threatened to give him a hiding if he didn’t hand over his stuff. The victim handed over $465 worth of goods, and Mace admitted a charge of demanding to steal.
Defence counsel Bridget Murphy said Mace had found the three weeks in prison difficult and unpleasant, and had thought about the effect of his offending on himself, his family, and his victims.
“He doesn’t want to be the same as his father,” she said.
Mace told the court that the hardest thing had been being away from his family. He also wants to be out of prison and with his new girlfriend.
“I want to take a chance on you,” Judge Neave said, releasing him under supervision and judicial monitoring for two years.
In that time, he will get drug and alcohol treatment, and must attending counselling, rehabilitation, and educational courses as directed.
He must also do 100 hours of community work but in an agency placement rather than the usual work gang. If probation cannot get him a suitable placement, he will be brought back to court for a different sentence.
He will also have to pay $590 for the damage and losses he caused, at $10 a week.
And he got a warning from the judge about the regular monitoring: “If probation tells me you are not trying or have slipped back into your old ways, I’ll get you back and send you to prison.”
Category: Focus
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