October 13, 2008

Tougher line continues for young offenders

By David Clarkson

The hard line continues in Christchurch?s main police court for young offenders behaving badly. Authority is demanding more respect.

Judge Stephen Erber set the tone on Friday with some instant jail terms that caught offenders off-guard, and he was back in the same court today.

Scott Robert Begbie, an 18-year-old from Halswell, had to argue that he should be released on bail for sentencing after Judge Erber called him a ?young lout?.

Begbie, an engineer, did two petrol drive-offs from Oaklands and Templeton.

Then he stopped outside the Rolleston Police Station, waited till he had the constable?s attention and did a burn-out.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Jeff Kay said: ?He told the police he did the burn-out because he thought it would be hard case and said he wanted to engage the police in a high speed pursuit.?

Then he and some friends raided a Leeston farm where an associate thought there were firearms. They didn?t find any, and Begbie left before the others when they disturbed some animals. They then went to another property but he waited outside.

He pleaded guilty to the charge of burglary, two thefts, and wheel-spinning.

Judge Erber listened to defence counsel Paul McMenamin argue that Begbie could be remanded on bail for sentence with a burglary co-offender on December 10. Counsel described it as ?aggravated mischief rather than grave criminality?.

?I?m not too impressed by the behaviour of this young lout,? said the judge, remanding Begbie on bail for a pre-sentence report, reparation report, and home detention report.

In the meantime, he is not allowed to leave home at all, at any time, without one of his parents.

Another young man who had breached his bail curfew for the third time found himself remanded in custody for a hearing on October 16.

A young driver who lost control of his car and crashed into another vehicle when travelling too fast in the central city got a moderate fine of $450 when Judge Erber said he faced costs of $20,500 from the crash. It had been what defence counsel Hamish Evans called ?a financial disaster?.

More severe treatment was dished out to someone the judge said was ?generically described as a boyracer? after a dangerous incident just outside the city.

Police went to a gathering of young car enthusiasts and intervened when the youth did a burn-out, apparently egged on by his mates who were passengers.

He reversed through the crowd to get away from the police car with its lights flashing. Another police car hit the boyracer?s car and shunted it into a drainage ditch, which stopped his progress but caused $3449 damage to the patrol car.

Defence counsel Alyssa Bell said the youth was a diesel mechanic who lived in Darfield but worked in Christchurch and would have difficulty without his licence.

?He should have thought about that,? said Judge Erber.

The young offender already owed $1700 in fines.

He imposed fines totalling $1400 for dangerous driving, failing to stop, and wheel-spinning, and disqualified him for a year.

?This was a very dangerous situation. People could easily have been hurt or killed,? said the judge.

A young chef who attacked someone he didn?t know because he ?looked at him funny? in the street was fined $1000 and ordered to pay $200 emotional harm reparations to the victim.

A young man who did two drive-offs from petrol stations without paying was fined and given until 4pm today to pay the stations $145. A warrant has already been issued in case he doesn?t pay by then. In that case, he?ll be spending 14 days in jail.