Youth jailed for drunken offending spree

A teenager who wrote off a $280,000 car, ending a two-hour spree of drunken offending, was jailed yesterday.

Michael Johnny Kight, 17, pleaded guilty in Napier District Court to a raft of offences including burglary, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, unlawful possession of firearms, dangerous driving, driving while forbidden and driving while intoxicated.

The charges arose from two hours of drunken offending on October 7, Hawke's Bay Today reported.

After attending a party in Havelock North, Kight entered a friend's house on Iona Rd about 1am. He searched the property and stole sunglasses, designer watches, jewellery, laptop computers, cell phones, cameras and other electrical goods. He also took two shotguns, a .22 rifle, BB gun and over $500 in foreign currency.

He loaded the goods into a V8-powered Audi stationwagon, valued at $280,000, parked in the garage and drove off.

Two hours later, travelling at more than 250km/h, he lost control of the car and smashed into a barrier. The car flipped and flew through the air over an adjacent railway line, landing in a paddock 250 metres from the initial impact.

A total of 13 posts ripped from the ground flew a similar distance.

The force was so great the stocks of the two shotguns were smashed as they were thrown about in the car, which was written off. Kight received only minor injuries, which Judge Geoff Rea described as "nothing short of a miracle".

Kight's lawyer, Roger Philip, told the court his client had reactive attachment disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and had an extra Y chromosome, the Dominion Post reported.

However, a historic link between the extra chromosone and aggressive and criminal tendencies has been widely doubted, and the effects are said to be variable and often minimal.

Mr Philip said Kight's parents had done everything they could for him, including spending $500,000 on specialist care in the United States and Samoa.

Judge Rea sentenced Kight to one year's prison, with standard release conditions for six months after his release. He has been in custody since the offence.

The judge said the theft of firearms and travelling at "obscene speeds" had aggravated the offending.

"There's no doubt you have had a tragic life," Judge Rea said. "I don't think I've ever seen so many reports about one individual in all my life.

"You've been placed in the best care worldwide ... but you repaid the trust they've [parents] shown by re-offending. You're not without your own personal demons ... but in the end it's not an excuse for the behaviour you have exhibited."

- NZPA