Hannah Pierson during her November 2021 appearance when she was sentenced for threatening to blow up a plane. Photo / George Heard
Hannah Pierson during her November 2021 appearance when she was sentenced for threatening to blow up a plane. Photo / George Heard
A former Instagram model who threatened to blow up a plane on a drunken rampage is back in court for drink driving and was scolded by a judge for not having learned her lesson.
“Your theatrics get you nowhere,” the judge told Hannah Pierson as she bent over and cried in the dock when he hinted she may go to prison.
Pierson appeared at the Christchurch District Court today where she was sentenced on a charge of careless driving, failing to report damage to the owner, and driving with excess breath alcohol causing injury.
The incident unfolded when Pierson got behind the wheel when she was more than three times the legal limit and crashed into a young family with an 8-month-old baby.
The court heard the mother suffered nightmares and flashbacks as well as physical injuries such as bruising, muscle sprains, and whiplash as a result of the crash three months ago.
She could no longer hold her baby and feared she would be unable to care for her child, who had bruising on their neck. She also struggled with driving to visit her mother.
‘No one is coming to save me’
Pierson read a letter of remorse to the judge, stating her heart was “weighed down by remorse and shame”.
“No one is coming to save me from this disease, I have to save myself,” she said in between sobs.
“I am mortified by my behaviour and recognise the tremendous pain and suffering I have caused to others. No words can express my sorrow.
“On that fateful day, our paths crossed and it was because of my reckless choices that put lives in jeopardy.”
Pierson told the judge she tried to reach out for help but was “unheard and misunderstood”.
Hannah Pierson was sentenced at the Christchurch District Court for drink driving.
“I am not seeking forgiveness, I stand to offer my sincerest apologies and deepest regrets.”
She said she was now a recovering alcoholic and fighting to stay sober so she could be a better person.
According to the summary of facts, at 6.25pm on June 2 Pierson, who had been drinking, was driving along Hilderthorpe-Pukeuri Rd.
She veered off the road and crashed into a car that was pulled over with its hazard lights on. The car had two adults and a baby inside.
The mother was transported to Ōamaru with chest injuries.
Pierson returned a breath level of 803 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, just over three times the legal limit.
She faced further charges relating to hitting another parked car and damaging it when she rolled forward in a loading zone. She left the scene without reporting the incident or damage to the other vehicle.
Pierson’s lawyer Kathryn Vesty asked Judge Kevin Phillips to impose a sentence of home detention, stating her client was very remorseful.
Judge Phillips, however, wasn’t buying it.
“I’m not giving her any credit for remorse... there needs to be extraordinary remorse, where is it?”
Judge Phillips acknowledged that Pierson suffered from a “debilitating disease” and was obviously distressed at the thought of going to prison but that didn’t excuse her actions.
“Sentencing is not all about you and your disease. You’ve had opportunities in the past that you walked away from,” the judge said.
He said Pierson had clearly not learned her lesson from previous convictions.
He sentenced Pierson to nine months’ home detention with special conditions to complete alcohol intervention courses, not to possess or consume alcohol or non-prescribed drugs, and not to contact the victims of her offending.
Judge Phillips also imposed standard and special post-detention conditions for six months and disqualified Pierson from driving for one year and nine months.
When it was clear Pierson wasn’t going to jail, she composed herself and stood up straight.
Emily Moorhouse is a Christchurch-based Open Justice journalist at NZME. She joined NZME in 2022. Before that, she was at the Christchurch Star.
