CCTV footage shows a man abandoning a baby on the side of the road as he drives off in a stolen car. Video / Supplied
A man who jacked a car with a sleeping baby in it before ditching the infant on the roadside, spent seven days on the run - creating mayhem and more victims as he darted between two regions, slipping police at almost every turn.
Michael Jai Smith was already serving a sentence of home detention when he began his crime spree last month stealing multiple vehicles, burgling homes and clubs, and putting motorists’ lives at risk as he dangerously negotiated public roads.
Then, finally, on May 17, the tyres in a stolen vehicle he was driving were blown out and he was captured soon after, wandering in the dark in Sanson, 210kms from Waitara, Taranaki, where he was living and where his offending began a week earlier.
While Smith has now amassed a raft of charges, 15 to which he has pleaded guilty, the costs he has caused his 10 victims are still being counted.
The unscrupulous details are captured in a 15-page police summary of facts provided to NZME.
It all began on May 10 when Smith saw an opportunity. It was a car left unattended, unlocked and still running with the keys in the ignition. What he did not see was the six-month-old sleeping baby strapped in a car seat in the backseat of the vehicle.
Smith jumped in the car and as he reversed away from the High Street Dairy in Waitara, the owner and child’s mother, who had stopped to buy a drink, left the shop and ran to the vehicle, banging her fists on the window and trying to open the door as she repeatedly shouted that her child was in the backseat.
Police made a public appeal for help to find Michael Jai Smith. Photo / Police
But Smith slammed the car into drive, causing her to fall onto the road, and drove off.
The mother, who was left with bruising on her leg and a possible broken toe, pursued the vehicle on foot.
Up the road, Smith stopped the car and tried to remove the baby but struggled to release the straps of the seat.
He got back in and continued to drive before pulling up outside Anzco Foods Waitara, about 600m from the dairy. Smith took the baby from the seat and put him on the grass verge outside the meatworks, close to the roadside. The moment was captured on CCTV and shared online.
He then drove off at speed.
Meanwhile, the baby’s mother had been picked up by a member of the public and arrived shortly after to find her baby screaming. She suffered a seizure as they were reunited.
Smith threw the woman’s iPhone out the window as he made his way out of town in her car.
Then began his week as a fugitive.
Life on the run
The following day, on May 11, Smith was sighted on CCTV at a Palmerston North petrol station in the woman’s vehicle which now displayed different number plates.
But he was not in Manawatū for long, as around 1.30pm on May 12, he drove to a quarry near Ōpunake, South Taranaki, and cut the padlock at the gate to access the premises.
The mother found her baby screaming on the roadside outside Waitara's meatworks.
There, he drove the woman’s car into the doors of a workshop, went inside and stole $4545 worth of tools.
Smith eventually made his way to New Plymouth where police spotted the stolen vehicle parked on a street around 3.30am on May 13.
He ran from the area as officers arrived.
The stolen car was extensively damaged including a smashed windscreen and offensive graffiti on the interior. The woman’s two baby seats, a stroller and other personal items were missing. A homemade taser was found when police searched the vehicle.
Around 11.30am that same day, Smith found himself outside Domino’s in New Plymouth where he came across another unattended vehicle with the keys still in the ignition.
He got in the Toyota Corolla and took off, headed for Hāwera, South Taranaki.
There, he went to the Warehouse, then soon after police saw him driving the stolen car, now displaying altered number plates, along High St.
Police signalled him to stop but Smith, who in August 2023 was disqualified from driving for four years and six months, fled at speed through the residential street.
Police abandoned the pursuit as Smith continued to accelerate and passed motorists on the wrong side of the road.
Still on the lam, he went to Inglewood later in the day with another burglary in mind.
However, this one was fruitless. He failed to cover the CCTV camera in operation at the Inglewood Golf Club and then used a crowbar to smash a padlocked box attached to the clubhouse, revealing only scorecards. He tried to get inside the club but was unsuccessful.
The following day, on May 14, Smith was back in New Plymouth where he was caught on CCTV at a petrol station, still in the Corolla, around 11.50pm.
A short time later, in the wee smalls of May 15, possibly his busiest day on the run yet, he drove into the yard of Flow Master Plumbing and parked next to a truck owned by the business.
Smith used a crowbar to smash the truck’s window and then fleeced its tools.
He was later seen at a petrol station in Stratford before returning to New Plymouth where he dumped the Corolla.
According to the summary, he purchased a Nissan at some point that day, only to crash it later that evening in Egmont Village.
Michael Jai Smith appeared in New Plymouth District Court last week. Photo / Tara Shaskey
Smith abandoned the vehicle and continued on foot for around 750m until he came across a property around 11.30pm.
He found a Mitsibushi parked on the driveway with the keys in the ignition and, while the owner was inside the house, jumped in and drove off, leaving skidmarks on the driveway.
At some time between 7am and 2pm the following day, Smith travelled to Strathmore where he happened upon a farm worker’s cottage.
He climbed through a window and rummaged around, stealing multiple items including a chainsaw, knife, cellphone, and a backpack.
Spikes mark the end
The next day, on May 17, Smith’s time on the run was coming to an end.
Around 9am, police found the Mitsubishi abandoned in Douglas, east Taranaki. There was significant damage to the panels and the engine, and the plates had been removed and items stolen from the vehicle.
In the afternoon, Smith arrived at the Taranaki Racing Club in New Plymouth driving a Toyota Fielder which had been stolen from a Hāwera address a couple of days earlier and dumped. The summary said Smith had come across the abandoned vehicle and taken it.
At the club, he stole two 20-litre containers of petrol before taking a number plate from another vehicle and high-tailing it out of Taranaki, again.
He was driving the stolen Fielder, which had two different number plates on it, around 7.15pm through Whanganui when he went through a red light at speed after noticing a patrol car behind him.
A pursuit began but Smith turned off his headlights so it was quickly abandoned by police.
But little did he know, police had set up a tyre deflation device ahead, just south of Bulls.
Smith continued driving along State Highway 3 and straight over the road spikes, deflating all of the tyres in the stolen vehicle.
But he managed to travel a little further before dumping the car on a verge just north of Sanson. Smith got out and began walking but was arrested soon after with the help of a police dog.
Some items from the earlier burglaries were found in the Fielder.
Now, Smith is being held in custody at Whanganui Prison.
Last week, he appeared via audio-visual link in New Plymouth District Court where he entered guilty pleas to 15 charges stemming from his week of crime.
He pleaded not guilty to abducting a child, relating to the Waitara incident, and the prosecution withdrew three driving-related charges.
His lawyer told the court Smith took responsibility for the Waitara motor theft and accepted the summary of facts around the incident, but that he had not realised there was a baby in the car when he took it.
It was submitted there was a legal issue around whether an abduction charge was appropriate, and a possible resolution would be discussed with the Crown.
Smith will next appear in court for a case review hearing on August 22. The summary said reparation details would be sought from each victim.
Smith has previously served a prison sentence for driving through New Plymouth while stoned and taking potshots at cars, people and buildings with a paintball gun.
Tara Shaskey joined NZME in 2022 as a news director and Open Justice reporter. She has been a reporter since 2014 and previously worked at Stuff covering crime and justice, arts and entertainment, and Māori issues.
