Dunedin woman banned from city after throwing hot coffee on love rival

Amber Caitlin Thomas-Oliver poured coffee on a love rival during a street-side attack. Photo / 123rf

A woman who poured coffee on a love rival during a street-side attack will not be allowed to live in Dunedin while serving her sentence.

Amber Caitlin Thomas-Olive (27) appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday, having spent the past four months behind bars.

Judge Dominic Flatley sentenced the woman to six months’ community detention and 18 months’ intensive supervision on three charges of threatening to kill, assault, assault with intent to injure and wilful damage.

She will be GPS-monitored and is banned from travelling south of Rakaia while serving the sentence.

The court heard Thomas-Oliver committed the slew of offences against her ex-partner and his new girlfriend when she was using methamphetamine and cannabis to deal with the stress of the relationship breakdown.

On the morning of November 10 - while on bail and only two hours after appearing in court - the defendant was outside Coffee Culture in Roslyn.

Seeing her ex’s new partner securing her child in a car, Thomas-Oliver threw a cup of hot coffee over her back.

She pushed the victim in the chest, closed the car door on her, and forced her on top of her child in the passenger seat.

The victim filmed the aftermath to the attack during which Thomas-Oliver said: “I will f***ing kill you.”

She later told police she was “having a mental health episode” and was unable to remember most of the incident.

A month earlier, Thomas-Oliver bombarded her former partner with 193 messages, 25 phone calls and two “inflammatory” social media posts.

“Leave her. Otherwise I’m getting gangs involved,” one message said.

“I 100 per cent do not care if she is murdered and her kids have no mother, she deserves it,” said another.

She also mentioned Sean Buis, a man who was allegedly murdered at a Dunedin lookout in July.

On October 12, Thomas-Oliver went to her ex’s Mornington home and poured a chemical over two vehicles parked outside, damaging the paintwork.

One was a Ford, which police said had “immense sentimental value” as it had belonged to the victim’s dead friend, the court heard.

Thomas-Oliver expressed remorse for her actions and will serve her sentence of community detention in Christchurch.