An Edgecumbe woman who crashed her car the morning after a night of excess drinking has been sentenced to commmunity work and supervision.

Savise Ruby Lee McCann, 30, appeared for sentence on charges of driving with excess breath alcohol and careless driving. It was her third drink-driving offence.

In the Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday, her lawyer, Jonathan Kay, said McCann had been out the night before, drinking with friends, and was drinking more heavily than she usually would.

She was given a ride home, slept, had a meal and was driving at 8am the next morning when she fell asleep at the wheel and her car left the road, crashing into a drain.

Kay said McCann understood her actions could have had dire consequences for herself and other road users.

At the time, her breath alcohol level was 812 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for driving is 250mcg.

Judge Louis Bidois sentenced her to 130 hours’ community work and 12 months’ supervision. She was disqualfied from driving for 28 days, after which time she must have an alcohol interlock device fitted to her car.

Ill-treatment of a child

A Matahina woman who huffed flyspray while her two-week-old baby lay next to her has been sentenced to 12 months’ intensive supervision with direction to undertake various programmes aimed at giving her the help she needs.

Liza Mihiterine Roberts, 30, who does not have custody of the child, is a former methamphetamine addict and told the court she still had “urges”.

Using flyspray helped her cope with those urges.

When Judge Bidois questioned the forensic nurse about what flyspray does to a person, he replied “destroys brain cells”.

He said he was on call when Roberts was arrested on June 12 and spoke to her then.

He told the court there were relationship issues involved and there had been an argument before the police were called.

Prison for camper van taking

A Tāneatua woman who stole a camper van while the owner was asleep inside has been sentenced to four months in prison.

Jazmin Herewini, 28, appeared via audio visual link from prison.

She pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking a motor vehicle and failing to stop for police.

In sentencing her, Judge Bidois noted that the vehicle was recovered, and Herewini was not well at the time.

Three charges withdrawn

Mare Hanara Nicholas pleaded guilty to a charge of shoplifting, and was sentenced to 80 hours’ community work and ordered to pay $300 reparation.

Charges of escaping police custody, intentional damage and unlawful assembly were withdrawn by police.

Jury trial callover

Tennesse Gemmell was remanded until October 9 for callover in the Tauranga District Court on charges of dangerous driving causing injury, driving with a excess blood alcohol causing injury, having a qualifying drug in her blood and two counts of ill treatment of a child aged under one.

She has elected trial by jury.

Gemmell also faced a common assault and theft charge, to which she pleaded guilty.

These two charges arose from an incident where she had taken her cellphone in for repair, paying a $20 deposit.

When she went to collect it, she made no effort to pay the rest of the money owed.

When challenged by the store employee, she hit him.

She was sentenced to 100 hours of community work and ordered to pay $120 reparation for the outstanding money owed on the phone, along with $150 emotional harm reparation.

Two futile requests

Attempts by Sanele Mauu to get Judge Bidois to tell him what he might get if he pleaded guilty to the three charges he was facing, were futile.

“I’m not going to tell you,” the judge said.

“I want you to plead guilty because you did it, or not guilty because you didn’t.”

Mauu appeared via audio visual link from prison, where he has been in custody since April.

He entered not guilty pleas to charges of assault on a person in a family relationship, doing a threatening act towards a dwelling and wilful damage, and was remanded until August 19 for case review.

A request to have his charges transfered to Auckland, where he has other charges pending, was also declined.

“I hate getting files from other courts, so I don’t send files to other courts,” Judge Bidois said.

“The offending happened here, so you get dealt with here.”

Driving charges

A 24-year-old Whakatāne man appearing on his second disqualified driving charge and first driving with excess breath alcohol charge was sentenced to community work and supervision.

Hawera Beattie, a disqualified driver, had a breath alcohol level of 572mcg when stopped by police.

A probation report recommended imprisonment, highlighting a pattern of driving offending and irresponsible behaviour.

However, Judge Bidois said a community-based sentence was appropriate. He sentenced him to 40 hours’ community work and 12 months’ supervision, and disqualified him from driving for eight months.

Lost hat leads to accident

When asked why he would refuse a blood test when he had not been drinking, David Rangitakatu said he was not in his right mind because he had concussion.

The 61-year-old appeared for sentence on charges of driving while disqualified, careless driving and refusing an officer’s request for blood in relation to a quad bike accident.

The court heard he had been riding a quad bike when his hat came off. He spun around to retrieve it, and there was a car coming. He spent four days in hospital.

His lawyer, Jonathan Kay, noted that often people refused a request for blood, not realising that by doing so they were deemed to have alcohol at the highest level in their system.

Rangitakatu had not drunk alcohol for 20 years.

He has been indefinitely disqualified from driving since 1993 and Judge Bidois said he needed support to get his licence back.

He sentenced him to 140 hours of community work and six months of supervision, with directions he attend a driver education programme and any other programmes directed by his probation officer.

He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Trial elected

Thomas Mathieson has elected trial by jury on a charge of discharging a firearm to intimidate.

He was remanded for callover in the Tauranga District Court on October 9.

‘Leave it alone’ – judge

“If you need something and can’t afford it – leave it alone,” Judge Bidois told Jordan July Brown when he appeared on a charge of shoplifting.

The 30-year-old Whakatāne man admitted stealing $70 worth of meat from Pak’n Save.

He was sentenced to 80 hours’ community work and ordered to pay reparation of $70.

Shoplifter sentenced

Cassandra Martha Anderson must pay reparation of over $1000 for goods stolen from various stores in the Western Bay of Plenty between November 25 and January 8.

The 36-year-old was also ordered to pay $1224 for a window she broke.

Along with multiple charges of shoplifting, Anderson faced charges of breaching supervision, possession of cannabis and possession of methamphetamine.

Judge Bidois sentenced her to 160 hours’ community work, with an instruction not to steal.

“Things are good now; you will undo that if you carry on stealing.”