Damage payment ordered for ramming patrol car
A 20-year-old has been ordered to pay a $5134 bill for the damage he caused in a chase when he rammed a police patrol car with a car he had unlawfully taken.
The owner of the car will get first priority for his $2500 payment by Brandon Alan Niven, and the police will have to wait a bit longer for their $2634.
Niven was living in Phillipstown at the time of his offending in August, but at his Christchurch District Court sentencing yesterday he was sent to do a six-month home detention term at his mother’s address in Palmerston North.
Judge David Saunders said the change of address would move him “away from Christchurch and anti-social peers”. Niven’s mother will provide an air ticket to get him to the North Island before his term begins on Friday afternoon.
Defence counsel Steve Hembrow said family contacts had led to a likely job for Niven which would enable him to earn money and begin paying reparation while doing the home detention sentence.
He said Niven was very apologetic about his actions and was a first offender. He had contacted his doctor about depression last year, but then stopped attending. He had most likely then resorted to use of drugs because of a depressive illness.
Niven had earlier admitted unlawfully taking a car, and interfering with another car where he had been seen inserting an implement into the door lock, reckless driving, driving while forbidden, and failing to stop for the police. From separate incidents, he admitted making a false statement to the police, and unlawful possession of a knife in a public place.
On August 24, police tried to stop the unlawfully taken car that Niven was driving on Fitzgerald Avenue. Niven responded by ramming a patrol car and driving off at speed. The police abandoned the chase in Innes Road because of the speed, but later found the car in St Albans and arrested Niven nearby.
Judge Saunders said Niven should be ashamed of the appalling piece of driving which had caused financial loss to the car owner and the police.
He ordered full reparations, disqualified him from driving for a year, and imposed six months of home detention with an additional six months of release conditions during which he must undertake treatment or counselling as directed for drug and alcohol issues, or other matters. He is not allowed to have any firearms at the property, and he is not allowed to possess or use alcohol or drugs.
Category: News
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Connect
Connect with us via: