Teenager was pressured to help boyfriend escape jail, court told

A Rotorua teenager has avoided jail after helping her partner escape from Waikeria Prison.

Moemoana Fraser, 17, appeared before Judge Phillip Cooper in the Rotorua District Court yesterday for sentencing on a charge of helping her boyfriend, Robert John Wikaere, escape from jail on March 17.

Wikaere was sentenced to three years and four months' jail on a charge of aggravated robbery on August 20, last year.

The court heard that during a weekend visit at Waikeria Prison on March 14, Fraser and Wikaere hatched an escape plan.

On March 17, she was waiting with a female friend on Settlers Rd in a car, near the prison, when Wikaere rang her from a cellphone.

She picked him up after he escaped, taking him to a friend's house in Rotorua.

She gave him another cellphone with which to contact her and money to leave town.

Wikaere was caught a few days later at Kuirau Park, and Fraser was arrested.

Fraser's lawyer, Olivia Brittain, told the court her client had been going through a lot of personal problems at the time of Wikaere's escape, including her parents' marriage breaking up, as well as a strong influence from Wikaere.

"She felt under pressure," she said.

Ms Brittain asked the court to adopt a community corrections recommendation to appear if called on.

But Judge Cooper said that would not be an appropriate sentence.

"Normally, I'd send a person to jail for this sort of thing," he said.

He took into account Fraser's early guilty plea and her personal circumstances, and ordered her to complete 180 hours of community work.

"I take into account the influence the prisoner had on you," he said.

- DAILY POST