Woman jailed for taking son, then going on crime spree

The woman appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday by video link from Christchurch Women's Prison. Photo / File

A woman who breached a parenting order and took her son on a three-week, 1000km, crime-packed road-trip has been jailed for two and a half months.

The 34-year-old, who was granted name suppression to protect her child, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday by video link from Christchurch Women's Prison.

A parenting order had been in force since March last year, allowing the defendant three days with her son followed by the boy's father taking him for five days.

When that arrangement came under threat at the end of January, the woman "took matters into her own hands, regrettably", counsel Steve Turner said.

The defendant picked up her son in Hamilton as arranged on January 25 but when she was due to drop the boy with her ex-partner three days later she called and said that would not happen.

So began a wild few weeks heading south as she went on the run from the law with her child in tow.

First stop was the Waikato town of Putaruru, where the woman received a set of stolen number plates.

If the plan was to travel undetected, her manner of driving did not help.

The defendant was stopped by police in Levin after members of the public called about her erratic driving.

The stolen plates were discovered but because the woman provided a fake name and date of birth she was not arrested.

Instead she was summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

By the time police discovered she had given false details, she was long gone.

In Wellington, she crashed her car and fled with her son before police arrived.

Still, it was not enough to end the spree.

The defendant bought another car and on February 9 bought tickets for the Interislander ferry using a fake name.

In the South Island she committed three petrol thefts, totalling nearly $200, the court heard.

By February 14, the mother and son had made it as far as Oamaru and four days later the woman was arrested at a kindergarten where she had enrolled the boy.

Turner argued there was no suggestion the child was not cared for during that period but Judge Turner took issue with that.

"It must be pointed out that this offending involved a breach of court order, removing a child for over 1000km, committing offences, acting deceitfully, involved in a car crash, gave false particulars to police, travelled under false names to the South Island," he said.

He called the defendant's conduct a "determined and planned breach of the parenting order" which undermined the authority of the Family Court.

The visibly upset woman made frequent outbursts during the hearing until the judge muted her audio.

He found any suggestions of remorse difficult to accept.

In a probation report, her offending was put down to a "transient and somewhat chaotic lifestyle" as well as her criminal associations.