Trio admit damaging car that had been stolen
Three men who came across a stolen car abandoned on a remote road north of Christchurch made matters even worse by damaging it and looting items from it.
The Nissan Pulsar was left with a smashed windscreen, denting on the bonnet and roof, and items worth $1650 missing.
The woman owner did not know it had been stolen until the police told her next day, and she was upset to see the state of it.
Nathan Edward Maxwell, 22, of Mairehau, Brayden Clemett, 22, from Aranui, and an 18-year-old Aranui man whose name was suppressed, all admitted intentionally damaging the car. Maxwell admitted another charge of unlawfully interfering with the car, while the other two admitted stealing items from it.
About 6.45pm on February 2, the three came across the vehicle on an unmarked road near Gillespie Street, Kainga.
They used rocks and a wheel brace to smash the windscreen and then took turns jumping on the bonnet and the roof, causing dents.
Clemett took a bag containing the car owner’s hairdressing products worth $1500, and the 18-year-old opened the bonnet and removed the $150 battery.
Maxwell got into the car, but didn’t find anything to take.
Clemett admitted throwing rocks at the car, jumping on it, and taking the bag.
The teenager said they had come across the car when they drove to the riverbed to have a smoke. He said it was his idea to smash it up and he admitted throwing rocks and jumping on it, and stealing the battery.
Maxwell admitted damaging the car, but he said that when they found it, it was already damaged and he believed it was abandoned.
The victim told the police she did not know the car was stolen until they contacted her the next morning. It had been in good condition until then, and she was upset to see the state it had been left in.
Judge Stephen O’Driscoll remanded Maxwell and Clemett on bail for sentencing on May 25. He asked for pre-sentence reports to check their suitability for home or community detention, and referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting where they would have the chance to apologise to the owner.
Judge O’Driscoll agreed to grant final name suppression to the 18-year-old after his defence counsel Anselm Williams argued that publication would cause extreme hardship because of his continuing mental health difficulties.
The teenager, a first offender, had also admitted separate charges of intentional damage and using threatening language, from another incident.
The judge said material provided to the court indicated that the teenager self-harmed and did not know how to deal with his anger. He had had a turbulent upbringing and there were issues with unresolved grief. Mental health issues had been diagnosed.
He accepted that name suppression would help with his rehabilitation.
He convicted the teenager and ordered him to come up for sentence if called upon within a year, and ordered him to pay his $185 share of the reparations.
Category: News
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