Mother jailed for lying loses appeal

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A young Masterton mother jailed for "crafting" a lie to protect her partner from being arrested has lost her appeal against sentence.

April Lorna Marie Jackson, 20, was sentenced to 10 months' jail in July by Judge Arthur Tompkins, having previously pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction and perverting the course of justice.

She appealed the sentence on two grounds; that the sentence was manifestly excessive and home detention should have been imposed.

On May 16, Jackson was out walking with her partner after drinking when she came across four men cleaning bottles out of a car. One of the men spoke to her and upset, she began kicking the bottles, picking up one and throwing it at one of the men, missing him.

Her partner punched the man in the head as his friends tried to break up the fight.

Jackson threw one of them into a bush, causing him to fall over. In the days that followed Jackson was twice interviewed by police stating her partner wasn't there.

She told them he was at a friend's house at the time and her friend, Brooke Ashlee Hickey, 24, then confirmed the alibi to police. Hickey was sentenced to four months' community detention for her part in obstructing police.

At the time Jackson was on bail for assaulting the victim.

Lawyer James Elliott submitted an appeal before Justice Joe Williams, that Judge Tompkins failed to take into account Jackson's age together with potential rehabilitation programmes available to her if she were on home detention.

Justice Williams said he didn't think the sentencing judge was in error by not putting rehabilitation to the fore in his sentence. "The pre-sentence report suggested that there were real concerns about her level of motivation to address alcohol consumption as a cause of her offending," he said in his judgement.

As for the jail term as opposed to home detention, Justice Williams said Jackson's previous record of non-compliance of community-based sentences and the sentencing judge's reservations about the address put forward led the judge to rightfully impose a jail term.

Dismissing the appeal, he observed: "The appellant's previous non-compliance record with community-based sentences was clearly a relevant factor ...

"It showed the appellant's overall attitude to compliance with sentencing requirements ... relevant also was the relative seriousness of the count in relation to perverting the course of justice."