With new confidence, teenage offender looks to the army
A 17-year-old has emerged from an Army Limited Service Volunteer scheme with so much confidence and stature that it should keep him out of jail for his part in a liquor shop robbery.
Tamatea Lorenzo Briggs, standing straight in a black suit and tie, became a presence in the Christchurch District Courtroom where his sentencing was meant to take place.
He was accompanied by a Staff Sergeant who spoke for him and agreed that Briggs should be very proud of the efforts he had made over the last year. He graduates from the LSV course on Saturday.
Questioned by Judge Jane Farish, the Staff Sergeant agreed that if the judge did not imposed a conviction on any of the charges, Briggs would be interviewed for a place in the army. Otherwise, he would face a seven-year stand-down period.
“I think he would make a very good soldier,” said the judge.
She delayed the sentencing until July 27 for more reports and a defence application for a discharge without conviction. She will still be able to impose a sentence, and has asked the Probation Service to look for an agency placement as community work for the teenager.
When the case was called again later, after Briggs had left the court, the judge settled a bail address in Christchurch for him after his LSV placement ends. She commented: “He’s brilliant. He looks sensational.”
Briggs’ two younger co-offenders in the Woolston Liquor Shop robbery were dealt with in the Youth Court. They had gone into the shop on a night in August 2015 and when the shop assistant stopped them taking alcohol they had smashed bottles over his head.
Briggs admitted being an accessory to the robbery by doing the driving. He also pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully taking a car, driving while forbidden, and assaulting the owner of the car.
Judge Farish said that Briggs had taken responsibility for his problems, but a lot of adults had “dropped the ball” for him in the past. He had now “got himself organised in a very mature fashion”.
“He will graduate on Saturday and we can then consider being able to get him into the army, in his best interests and in terms of the community as well,” said the judge.
She said a discharge without conviction could be granted in cases where the consequences of the conviction outweighed the gravity of the offending.
Category: News
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