About 8.41pm on July 2 this year, he was seen travelling on Rapaura Road in Marlborough, and then soon after on State Highway 1 at Koromiko, at “excessive speed”, but failed to stop for police when signalled with flashing lights and a siren.
Tressider continued south and was clocked driving at 130km/h in a 100km/h area before he was seen to cross the centre line and then continue on the wrong side of the road while entering a major roundabout at Spring Creek.
Tressider then turned right back into Rapaura Road (a main route to and from the Blenheim and Cook Strait ferry services) and carried on, and he again reached speeds of over 130km/h.
He was stopped by police when they deployed a tyre deflation device at the junction of Rapaura Road and State Highway 6.
Tressider then told police he hadn’t stopped because he was a disqualified driver. He confirmed to the court he’d been driving his girlfriend’s mother’s car.
His lawyer Luke Acland said it was lucky he hadn’t faced a more serious charge, but regardless, he was likely to receive a harsher penalty anyway because it was his third offence for driving while disqualified.
Acland said he had also been upfront about how Tressider’s future would look if he were to continue on his current path of an apparent obsession with bad driving.
Judge Rielly agreed.
“Everything Mr Acland has said is exactly right. It’s very difficult to sentence such a young man like you, especially when you’ve already been disqualified from driving.”
Judge Rielly was concerned she was setting Tressider up to keep coming back to court, but explained the penalties were in place for a reason - to protect the public.
“This was an outrageously bad piece of driving.
“I don’t know what your thoughts and feelings [were], but you placed yourself and many others in the community at serious risk of harm.”
Judge Rielly also said the police had better things to do than chase after young men like Tressider.
Judge Rielly said she was obliged to abide by a requirement to further disqualify Tressider for a lengthy period, and that if he didn’t comply, he would end up with a more serious sentence.
Tressider was sentenced to 150 hours of community work and disqualified from driving for a year, from September 17 this year, on the charge of driving while disqualified on a third or subsequent time.
He was fined $500 and disqualified for a further six months on the charge of failing to stop for police.
Judge Rielly said that meant he was unable to get behind the wheel until March 2025.
The owner of the vehicle he was driving at the time would be notified of the consequences if Tressider was allowed to drive it again.
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.
