The judge had voiced similar concerns about community detention while sentencing other offenders last week, especially his view that the option merely confined offenders to their homes at nights “when they should be there anyway”.
Munro said this latest offence was a “blip” for her client who had been jailed twice previously for similar offending but hadn’t been in court for nine years.
Judge Phillips interjected saying it was more likely Rangi “just hasn’t been caught” during that time.
People shouldn’t be driving at all after consuming any alcohol, the judge said.
Munro said Rangi was remorseful and had sought appropriate rehabilitation, attending counselling for alcohol and other drugs, and having since been discharged from the service due to his good progress.
Rangi had good support in the community, was studying and was actively involved in worthwhile community causes which community detention would enable him to continue, Munro said.
She asked to consult her client as to whether a weekend-long detention would present any issues for him.
Judge Phillips said Rangi could just as easily continue his studies in prison or on home detention.
However, he was agreeable to impose community detention because he was impressed by Rangi’s appearance and demeanour. It surprised him that Rangi had an alcohol problem.
The judge said Rangi’s mission to get a pie in the early hours of Saturday, December 17, last year, saw him drive directly towards a compulsory police checkpoint.
It was “hard to believe anyone could be so stupid”.
“I don’t know whether it was one of these fabled Gisborne pies or not but it’s a very expensive one for you.”
He noted there were no complaints of Rangi having driven badly ahead of being stopped and the blood alcohol reading of 119mg was low but still 40 points above the allowable limit.
The judge accepted Munro’s submissions for a starting point of 10 months imprisonment and gave Rangi credit for his guilty plea, community engagement, and mental health issues. However, the judge refused to give Rangi any discount for remorse saying he hadn’t demonstrated it at the necessary “extraordinarily” level.
“Everyone gets anxious coming to court or being caught at a checkpoint… I don’t see there’s anything in that [claim].”
The judge warned Rangi any re-offence would likely result in 18 months’ imprisonment.
While in Gisborne, Judge Phillips has also questioned the validity of some aspects of cultural reports, specifically where content was only self-reported by offenders. In one case, he questioned a man’s claims that he was taught at a young age to offend like that by an older brother and asked whether there was any verification of it.
“Every cultural report I read the person has always been sexually abused, always (there’s) this element of dysfunctionality and disharmony and violence but a lot of them (the reports) have been verified by any independent people. It is a very easy thing for a person to say and I’m quite sure that within the prison system there will be a culture of people telling people what to say (like) ‘I wasn’t loved as a child, I looked up to my brother even though there was sexual and physical abuse’ and that type of thing. I don’t accept that, where’s the brother? Why isn’t he saying that?”, the judge said.
Counsel Daniel Berry responded by pointing to the number of offenders who simply didn’t have whānau to call upon to verify their claims. The report writer in that particular case was experienced and had sought verification where possible, albeit the man’s parents had passed away and he was estranged from his brother.
However, Judge Phillips questioned whether people such as employers would know about a person’s childhood.
