ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Tuesday, April 30, 2013
NEWS
Suppression breach admitted By Kurt Bayer A friend of the man who posted a video online of Jesse Ryder’s two alleged attackers in spite of a court’s suppression order yesterday clashed with media outside court. Jordan Mason, 28, admitted the suppression breach at Christchurch District Court today, saying he did it out of “misguided loyalty” to the cricket star. He was in the dock after going to court as a member of the public to see two men, aged 20 and 37, appear earlier this month on charges of assaulting Ryder outside a Merivale bar. A judge granted a suppression order which protected their identities in a bid to secure them a fair trial. But as they walked out of court, unemployed Mason filmed them on his mobile phone. Christchurch District Court heard yesterday that a police officer spoke to Mason outside court, advising him of the suppression order and warned against doing anything with his footage. But Mason ignored the advice and went ahead to upload the footage of the two men onto YouTube. The videos have since been taken down. His lawyer, Andrew McKenzie, said yesterday Mason did so out of “a sense of misguided loyalty” to Ryder. The charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail, but Mr McKenzie said it wasn’t the most serious breach of its kind. He said the men’s names and identities were published in the media earlier that day, and his client had chosen not to name them when posting the video.
Mason was now “very aware” of Judge Gary MacAskill’s reasons for making the suppression order, and the “importance of them [orders] to ensure that the process of justice proceeds in a fair manner”. After Mason was charged, Detective Sergeant Ash Millen said he hoped it would serve as a deterrent to any other people who may have downloaded, accessed or distributed the video in question, or are considering doing so. Judge Jackie Moran said Mason could not be sentenced yesterday because it was important to have submissions from both the prosecution and his defence, given the “significance of this type of offending”. He was remanded on bail until he’s sentenced on July 10. Mason, a high-profile member of the Christchurch boy-racer community, wore his suit jacket over his head as he left court in a bid to conceal his identity. He was bundled into a car by associates, keeping his face hidden in the back seat. One friend got angry when media approached the car. He told a One News cameraman to keep away, before grabbing the camera and shouting obscenities in the cameraman’s face. He then verbally threatened another journalist before getting into the car and driving off. Mason refused to comment. He previously said he breached the suppression in a bid to “name and shame” the alleged attackers. Ryder, 28, was allegedly punched and kicked outside Aikmans bar in Merivale, Christchurch, after a season’s-end night out with his Wellington Firebirds’ teammates on March 28. -APNZ
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• Cubs struggling
Holiday session gets the water safety message
Three newborn cheetah cubs are fighting for their lives after being born at a Christchurch zoo. First time cheetah mother Mazza gave birth to a litter of five at Orana Wildlife Park on Saturday afternoon, but two have died. The three surviving cubs, two males and a female, are now in incubators at Christchurch’s After Hours Veterinary Hospital. -APNZ
• More daytime tests Police in Northland will increase daytime breath tests to nab the many motorists still drunk from the night before. Whangarei/ Kaipara area commander Inspector Tracy Phillips said alcohol and speed were the highest causal factors for Northland road crashes. Several motorists have used the previous night’s drinking as mitigation when caught drink-driving the next day and Ms Philips said this was no excuse. -APNZ
Ashburton youngster Bailey Kingan, 5, was among more than 70 children who heightened their awareness in and around water yesterday. Swimming New Zealand swim safe advisor Tracey Hickman visited a holiday programme at St David’s Church, looking to teach the youngsters about the importance of life jackets, how to get out of a rip and what to do when someone has hypothermia, among a host of other water safety aspects. Ms Hickman said it was important Ashburton children learnt about water safety with its proximity to Lake Hood and the easy access to water on local farms.
• Out of control
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 290413-TM-010
A 15-year-old male has been arrested after driving a car down Westport’s main street with the bonnet up. Police gave chase about 2.50am yesterday after the Toyota Corolla drove south down Palmerston Street with the teenager hanging out of the window. The driver failed to stop, then attempted to flee on foot when the vehicle broke down. He later assaulted a female officer and spat in a jailer’s face. -APNZ
COURT
Supervision for sentence breach Hard work and a change of attitude have paid off for Cori Rangi Tahiri Bates. The 25-year-old Lismore farmworker made a sentencing appearance in the Ashburton District Court, for breaching the terms of his community work sentence. Bates said he was not eligible for legal aid as he worked full-time, was remanded in custody to enable him to seek legal advice. When he appeared later in the day, duty solicitor Roz Burnside said Bates worked long hours, at times from 4.30am until 8pm, and an earlier curfew had been amended to consider this. As he doesn’t have a driver’s
licence, Bates relied on other people to take him to get groceries and attend meetings, and this had resulted in the breach. “This man is working in a job he loves, his employer is happy with him and there is a good chance he will get to management level. It is the first time in life he has been in a job for this amount of time,” Ms Burnside said. “If he goes away for this breach he would lose his job.” She said Bates had refrained from alcohol since the drink driving charge which resulted in his community detention, attending support meetings and paying off fines at $200 a week.
“The real problem for me is the drinking,” Bates told the court. Probation services suggested commuting the community detention sentence for one of supervision, given the inroads Bates had made. However, Judge Chris Somerfield said the original sentence should stand but offered a supervision sentence on the breach charge, to which Ms Burnside entered a guilty plea on behalf of Bates. “You owe Ms Burnside a vote of thanks,” Judge Chris Somerville said, in sentencing him to six months’ supervision with provision to undertake alcohol and drug counselling and therapy.
Teen on sex charges warned An Ashburton teenager, 18, received a stern warning when he appeared in the Ashburton District Court on two charges of grooming a 13-year-old for sex. The two were acquainted through the complainant’s brother. The court was told the pair met on her request last month, in a supermarket car park. They
parted company and a volley of sexually explicit text messages followed. Later that day, he drove to the complainant’s home as arranged – but he was confronted by her family, and made a quick getaway. Judge Somerfield said the community took such offending seriously, saying an 18-year-old
is facing sentencing for similar offending with a 14-year-old complainant in Christchurch. “It’s a three-strike offence. Fortunately nothing happened here – but only because the family intervened,” he said, before handing down a cumulative sentence of six months’ supervision, and 100 hours community work.
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Alcohol, theft, drink driving a bad mix The following people appeared before Judge Chris Somerfield in the Ashburton District Court yesterday. Drink driving Natasha Louise Wroblenski had a row with the occupants of an address she was visiting, and she left in a huff – in someone else’s vehicle. But her troubles didn’t end there. Just 30 or 40 metres down the road she crashed through a fence and was restrained by the occupants of the property, who called police. She was found to have been driving with an excess breath alcohol level of 1066 micrograms per litre of breath (1066mg/l). Wroblenski, 26, of Eiffelton, pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking a vehicle and drink driving. She was sentenced to 12 months’ intensive supervision, and disqualified from driving for six months. Reparations had already been met. Jennifer Carol McKenzie, 57, a beneficiary of Ashburton, tried to avoid a police checkpoint by switching off the headlights on her vehicle and ignoring officers’ signals to pull over. Police followed her and observed her crossing the centre line and almost colliding with another vehicle – all the while ignoring the flashing lights and sirens directing her to stop. When she did pull over she was found to be drink driving (810mg/l). McKenzie said she
knew she was over the limit and didn’t want to stop. Yesterday, she pleaded guilty to drink driving and failing to stop – and was sentenced to nine months’ supervision, to include assessments and treatment as directed, and disqualified from driving for nine months.
three months, and ordered to pay court costs.
On April 7, Bradley Michael Hurst, 20, a mechanic of Tinwald, did not pull over when signalled by police on South Street. Instead he accelerated into the riverbed, changed into 4WD and attempted to cross. He was apprehended following the failed crossing, but refused to co-operate with police – and was charged with failing to provide blood for alcohol analysis, and failing to stop when signalled. Yesterday he was convicted and fined $1000, disqualified for six months and, as it was Hurst’s second drink drive conviction within five years, ordered to obtain a zero alcohol licence at the completion of the disqualification. He was also ordered to pay court costs.
Shaquille Harmony Fa’atili, 19, of Netherby pleaded guilty and was convicted of drink driving (603mg/l), and disqualified driving. She was fined $600 and ordered to pay court costs on the former charge, $250 on the second, and disqualified from driving for six months.
Patrick Martin Evans, 21, dairy farm worker, of Ashburton Forks, pleaded guilty to drink driving (686mg/l). He was convicted, fined $700, disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay court costs. Rico Henry Richard Marshall, 19, a labourer of Allenton, was also caught drink driving (186m/l) in a police checkpoint on River Terrace on April 6. He was fined $250, disqualified from driving for
Richard Print, 25, of Orton, Temuka was convicted of drink driving (639m/l) on his guilty plea. He was fined $650, disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to pay court costs.
Other matters Monique Moffat, 25, a farm worker of Ashburton, was disqualified from driving for six months in January; but on March 28 she was caught behind the wheel – her car was seized and she was charged with driving while disqualified. Yesterday she was disqualified for a further six months, beginning on August 21, and her car confiscated. Chloe Rose Romana, 22, a factory hand of Allenton, was convicted of driving while disqualified. Judge Somerville accepted the mitigating circumstances; that Romana had run an errand for her friend – a mother of seven – to buy margarine. She was sentenced to 60 hours’ community work. Raymond Donald Todd, 37, of Ashburton was convicted of careless use, after falling asleep and
crashing into the Clarence River bridge while driving to Picton last month. Judge Somerfield said fatigue, alcohol and speed were the three top killers on the road. He fined Todd $1000 and ordered him to pay court costs. He held back from disqualifying Todd from driving, but noted the seriousness of the charge in the file. The smell of cannabis gave Daniel Thomas Gundry, 39, of Hampstead, away, when the vehicle he was a passenger in was pulled up at a police checkpoint. The resulting search revealed $40 worth of cannabis in his pocket, to which Gundry pleaded guilty to possessing when he appeared yesterday. “I made a bad mistake but don’t see myself as a criminal,” he told Judge Chris Somerville, before asking for a diversion sentence. However, he was fined $300 and ordered to pay court costs. Andrew Jay Stephen, 23, of Ashburton, was also convicted on cannabis charges, after a checkpoint stop. Stephen was fined $200 for possessing cannabis, $300 for possessing a pipe and ordered to pay court costs. Rohan James Barham was fined $200 and ordered to pay court costs for breaching a community work sentence. The court was told Barham only had three hours left to complete his sentence, but had failed to take Anzac Day into account.
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