A woman sent a psychologist a barrage of abusive text messages after he declined to refer her to ACC for the concussion she claimed to have. Photo / 123RF
A woman sent a psychologist a barrage of abusive text messages after he declined to refer her to ACC for the concussion she claimed to have. Photo / 123RF
Megan Aitken sent 69 threatening texts to a psychologist after he declined to refer her to ACC.
Aitken was sentenced to community detention and supervision for causing harm by posting digital communication.
She was also disqualified from driving for six months and fined for speeding and assaulting a police officer.
When a psychologist who assessed a woman for suspected concussion declined to refer her to ACC, she responded with a volley of threatening texts.
Megan Aitken sent 69 text messages to the psychologist in less than an hour, telling him “I hope you die”, and “get cancer” and hoped that his house might burn down.
Judge Jo Rielly said in the Nelson District Court today that while the psychologist had declined to submit a victim impact statement, she imagined he would have been left feeling “extremely fearful”.
Prosecutor for the police, Shania Nicholson, confirmed that the psychologist had said he felt fearful upon receiving the messages.
Aitken, who appeared to smirk, glower, and wipe away tears while in the dock was told her facial expressions during the hearing were not helping.
She was in court for sentencing on a range of charges that began in April 2023 when Aitken was suspended from driving for three months but was detected by the police driving at 137km/h on the Moutere Highway the following month.
At the time Aitken had a medical condition which meant she was unfit to drive, but had later had her licence reinstated.
When police pulled her over she told them she was a suspended driver and then drove off as further details were sought.
The police caught up with her several kilometres down the road at Appleby School, where she said she was late picking up her son.
In August she was clocked by police again, this time travelling at 126km/h in the same area.
Megan Aitken was sentenced in Nelson District Court. Photo / Tracy Neal
Police abandoned the pursuit that followed for safety reasons after Aitken did a U-turn and sped off having been signalled by the police to pull over.
She then failed to appear in court on two occasions.
Aitken was charged with assaulting a police officer in March last year after she kicked the officer in the stomach while being arrested on unrelated matters.
The assault was followed by the text barrage in June last year, which forced the psychologist to block Aitken’s number.
In court, defence lawyer Tony Bamford said Aitken had been grappling with a concussion she claimed to have had, and was triggered into sending the messages when the psychologist expressed an opinion to ACC she wasn’t suffering as such.
“She found that extraordinary and ‘lost it’,” Bamford said.
Aitken told the police she had sent the messages and had done so because she “had schizophrenia”.
The 31-year-old, who talked over the judge during sentencing, asked how she might get her groceries and her son to school and then said she would “have to re-offend” if her driver’s licence was removed.
Judge Rielly said sanctions needed to apply and disqualified Aitken from driving for six months on a charge of driving while suspended, and for failing to remain stopped for the police on two occasions.
She was sentenced to three months of community detention plus 12 months’ supervision on the charge of causing harm by posting a digital communication, relating to the texts.
Judge Rielly said Aitken continued to display a dislike for authority, a sense of entitlement, lacked remorse and blamed the police for targeting her.
Her comments to a probation officer that she did not consider her behaviour posed a risk were “naive and concerning”, Judge Rielly said.
“You have taken a victim stance in relation to your offending behaviour,” Judge Rielly said.
She acknowledged that life had been difficult for Aitken because of the mental health issues she had spoken of.
Aitken had been helped with daily transport tasks by a flatmate and her mother who told the court when invited by Judge Rielly to speak that her daughter was “doing the best she could” under the circumstances.
Aitken was sentenced to a further month of community detention on the charge of driving while suspended and another month for assaulting the officer, with the time to be served concurrently.
On the speeding charges, she was convicted and fined $150.
Aitken was convicted and discharged for twice failing to appear in court.
Judge Rielly hoped she would think twice about driving while she was disqualified, but ultimately, the choice was hers.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
