Former cop sentenced

Photo / APN

A former Central Otago policewoman has been sentenced to seven month's home detention for wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice in an investigation into a car crash involving another officer.

Dairne Olwen Cassidy, 40, a former constable, was sentenced in Alexandra District Court today after earlier admitting the charge, the Otago Daily Times reported.

Cassidy was in charge of the investigation into the collision between Senior Constable Neil Ford and Shane Cribb, then 17, near Alexandra in 2005.

Ford claimed Mr Cribb was to blame for the accident and the teenager was convicted of careless driving causing injury. However, it later transpired he had lied to a court about how the accident happened and Mr Cribb was cleared of blame.

Cassidy saw Ford's statement on the crash, which was quite different to what he said when she was the first officer on the scene.

Ford, 56, was jailed for two years and four months in September for perjury.

Cassidy's lawyer Bill Dawkins said his client was "deeply ashamed" of the impact her actions had on Mr Cribb, her family and friends, the wider Alexandra community and on herself.

- NZPA