Spared jail after judge heeds new information

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Refusing to leave his ex-partner’s house where he had outstayed his welcome during a drinking session, a man got in a vehicle and drove it into a cabin on the property, oblivious to the fact there was someone inside it.

Driving off, he refused to remain stopped when police pulled him over, taking off at speed before careering into a ditch.

Fifty-eight-year-old Hatuahi Samuels’ had expected to be jailed for the offending but instead received a sentence of 250 hours community work and nine months supervision when he appeared this week in Gisborne District Court.

His string of offences began just before 1pm on Saturday August 20, last year.

Due to a long-standing protection order, he was legally required to leave his ex-partner’s home on her request.

Angry at being told to go he deliberately ploughed into the cabin but later said he didn’t realise there was anyone inside it.

Out on the road, he had been reported to the police by a member of the public who saw him swerving and drinking.

Having evaded the officers who tried to stop him, he spotted a checkpoint up ahead and again tried to avoid police, this time veering off the road and into a large ditch.

He refused to give a blood specimen for alcohol testing, his reading automatically deemed to be a high one.

Judge Turitea Bolstad said she had anticipated jailing Samuels. He had pleaded guilty to five charges arising from the episode — refusing to give a blood specimen, refusing to stop, careless driving, wilful damage, and breach of a protection order — and had no suitable address for home detention. He had numerous previous relevant convictions, albeit somewhat historical.

However, after hearing about efforts Samuels had recently made to address his offending behaviour through agencies with which he had engaged, the judge stepped right back and instead imposed the combination of community-based sentences.

Samuels was also ordered to pay reparation of $3348 for damage to the cabin and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Police prosecutor Dave Walker did not oppose the community-based sentence. He said he too was previously inclined to support the probation service’s recommendation of imprisonment, which was based on a concern Samuels hadn’t learnt from previous programmes and sentences designed to try to help him. However, Mr Walker said he had changed his mind because of the updated information presented to the court that day.

Counsel Mana Taumaunu handed up copies of various reports and certificates in support of Samuels, including confirmation he had voluntarily undertaken counselling for alcohol abuse and a non-violence programme. Also provided was a letter in which one of Samuels’ former work supervisors spoke highly of him.

Judge Bolstad said she was particularly moved by a photograph in which a smiling Samuels was depicted proudly holding one of his recently achieved certificates.

Mr Walker noted the community-based sentence meant Samuels could remain in his job of the past seven years, enabling him to pay the reparation due.

Determining the sentence, Judge Bolstad said she accepted the lead offence of breaching the protection order was low end for offending of its type and that all the other offences stemmed from it. She treated them as aggravating features, setting a global starting point of 12 months imprisonment.

She gave Samuels a full 25 percent discount for his guilty pleas and an additional 15 percent credit for personal circumstances and his motivation to change. Converting the end sentence of seven months imprisonment to the alternative community-based sentence, the judge said it was in everyone’s interest as it would allow Samuels to continue on his positive path.