A 19-year-old man was arrested after ramming a police car in the Auckland CBD.
A young man has appeared in court for sentencing after his dangerous driving of a Jaguar in Auckland’s city centre left pedestrians scurrying for cover.
The incident, which was caught on video, also involved the ramming of a police car.
The Auckland resident had just been released from jail after failing to appear at Taupō District Court for a separate rampage.
A young man’s autism and ADHD diagnoses - paired with his parents’ failure at setting boundaries - have been suggested as contributing factors behind his high-profile back-to-back rampages in Auckland and near Lake Taupō.
The then-teenager was arrested for a second time in as many months in February last year after driving a Jaguar on the footpath and through busy crosswalks in central Auckland - prompting pedestrians to scramble to avoid getting hit.
The strange incident, which was caught on video, ended with the driver dangerously ramming a police vehicle as two officers were getting out of the car to confront him.
The Te Atatū resident, now 20, returned last week to the Auckland District Court, where he received a non-custodial sentence. His identity remains secret for now, pending an application for permanent name suppression that is scheduled to be decided later this month.
“You are very lucky that nobody was injured,” said Judge Kate Davenport, describing his behaviour in both incidents as “out of control”.
“There were threats to life,” she added. “There was a great deal of anger expressed.”
The judge emphasised that his neurodiversity didn’t affect his intelligence or his ability to tell right from wrong, and it alone does not make him susceptible to criminal offending.
But his difficulty in controlling his emotions did have some bearing on the offences, she said, describing his “unregulated anger” as relating directly “to the lack of boundaries you had as a child”.
She noted that previous attempts to address his issues were not followed through - because, it seemed, either he or his father didn’t think it necessary.
A 20-year-old with name suppression appeared in the Auckland District Court for sentencing on charges relating to ramming a police car and driving on a footpath in the Auckland city centre. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
“Excuse me,” the defendant’s father, sitting in the gallery, interjected at that point.
The judge told him he was not permitted to speak during her sentencing. When he persisted a short time later - raising his hand and insisting “this is a matter of utter importance” - Judge Davenport kicked him out of the courtroom.
The interruption had not been of utter importance, she later determined after inquiring with the defendant’s lawyer.
‘Truly frightening’
Court documents state the defendant first got into trouble on the afternoon of Thursday, January 2 last year in Kuratau, a small Waikato community on the western edge of Lake Taupō.
He was upset about something that had happened the night before at an event, the judge noted, describing him as someone who can fixate on issues when there’s a perceived mistreatment.
On the day of the incident, he approached a property asking to see the homeowner, whom he described as “the big guy”. He was told the homeowner wasn’t there and was instructed to leave, but he refused.
He then approached a woman at the property but his father stood between them.
“The defendant became enraged and pushed his father before grabbing a branch from a nearby tree,” the agreed summary of facts for the case states. “[He] has struck his father approximately five times with the branch across the middle of his body.”
A young man with name suppression has been sentenced in the Auckland District Court following an odd, violent rampage in January 2023 that included properties on Hurikwaka St and Tukino Rd in Kuratau, a small Waikato community on the western edge of Lake Taupō. Photo / Google
He turned towards another person who lived at the property, who was inside a nearby vehicle. He threatened to kill that person, making a throat-slitting gesture, before hitting the vehicle several times with the same branch that had been used against his father.
The teen then ran to another property about 100m down the road, pushing over a fish smoker and grabbing a paddle from a kayak. When he emerged from the property, court documents state, he was brandishing half a paddle in each hand.
“He has hit the paddles on the ground, on a nearby parked ute and on a light pole which has caused the plastic end to shatter and become sharp,” documents state.
At that point, a bystander asked him not to lean against a ute. The teen didn’t take it well.
“I’ll f***ing kill you,” he yelled, raising the paddles above his head as if about to strike the man.
The young man’s autism and ADHD diagnoses - paired with his parents’ failure at setting boundaries - have been suggested as contributing factors behind the rampages. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The bystander managed to “disarm him” of one of the paddles, and the defendant moved on to another nearby street - instead taking his anger out on a parked BMW.
He jumped on the bonnet and hit it with the remaining paddle before moving onto another property, where he knocked over the outdoor furniture and punched through a trellis.
After he was chased off that property as well, he moved to the street.
“The defendant uplifted a large metal pole from the gutter and started swinging it around above his head before he lost control and dropped it,” court documents state.
“Members of the public have moved in and tackled the defendant to the ground, holding him there until police arrival a short time later.”
The judge noted that the events would have been “truly frightening experiences for the residents of a small community”.
Endangering pedestrians, police
One month and one day later, he was driving into Auckland’s city centre after having spent a week in jail for not appearing at a Taupō District Court hearing for the Kuratau rampage.
Neither court documents nor the judge shed light on what set him off the second time, but it would have been clear to all those in his vicinity that something wasn’t right.
CCTV cameras recorded him driving up and down Customs St West numerous times. At 2.26 that afternoon, pedestrians crossing the intersection of Customs and Albert Streets had to jump out of the way of the Jaguar, narrowly avoiding being hit as the defendant ignored a red light.
The same thing happened a short time later at the intersection of Customs and Queen Streets. He was described as having driven at speed through the red light, causing pedestrians to scramble.
He then drove on the painted median in the middle of the road before conducting an about-turn at speed and stopping at the lights - still in the median. His father got out of the car and it accelerated again towards Albert St.
The driver rammed a police car at the bottom of Queen Street in Auckland CBD.
After looping around again, the car briefly stopped in a bus lane at 2.27pm and the defendant’s father gestured for him to stop. The defendant instead reversed the vehicle into the Customs and Queen streets intersection again as the pedestrian crossing was active, nearly hitting a cyclist.
He then drove between the flush median and the wrong side of the busy road before driving on the footpath, again endangering pedestrians.
Around 2.30pm, just three minutes after the episode started, police arrived and signalled for him to pull over, which he initially did.
One constable was already out of the car, the other had opened her door and bystanders were standing around the car attempting to assist when the defendant “suddenly reversed his car with force and rammed into the police car” - leaving it immobile as he sped off.
The constable who was outside had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit as the Jaguar reversed and a pedestrian had to dart out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting hit, as it then accelerated forward.
The defendant drove the wrong way at speed down Fort Lane in central Auckland. Photo / Google
The defendant sped the wrong way down Fort Lane at speed, but his escape was short-lived. He was unable to continue due to traffic gridlock and was subsequently arrested, authorities said.
Learning to accept consequences
As a result of both incidents, the defendant faced sentencing for nine charges as he appeared in court last week, including wilful damage, speaking threateningly and dangerous driving. Each charge was punishable by up to three months’ imprisonment.
He was initially also charged with assaulting the two officers whose patrol unit he rammed with intent to avoid arrest. But those charges, which carry a maximum of three years’ imprisonment, were dropped before his guilty pleas.
Defence lawyer Melanie Collie asked for her client to receive a discharge without conviction, noting the defendant is now “very much more stable on his medication”.
“[He] does want to change,” she said, pointing to his youth and a difficult childhood that included involvement with Oranga Tamariki starting at age 5. “He has expressed a genuine desire to do this.”
Neither Crown prosecutor Liesel Seybold nor the judge disputed that a custodial sentence was unnecessary after factoring in the short sentencing range, his youth, his neurodiversity, his attempts at rehabilitation, and his apology letter.
Auckland District Court Judge Kate Davenport.
Judge Davenport was not convinced a discharge without conviction would be the best outcome.
She pointed to a psychological report suggesting that, although a conviction could pose some challenges, it could also send a clear and needed message about consequences and boundaries.
A conviction and sentence would also require him to engage with probation services independently of his parents, which could be good for him, the judge noted.
She pointed out that the defendant’s father had accompanied him to a meeting with the Department of Corrections for a pre-sentence interview but was asked to leave when he spoke over his son instead of letting him answer questions.
“In my view, [the defendant] needs a sentence which encourages him to accept the consequences of what he’s done” and “assists him to become more independent of his parents”, the judge concluded as she ordered 18 months of intensive supervision.
She ordered another psychological report before making a final decision regarding his application for permanent name suppression.
“I think it will be good for you to find a job and get back into the community,” she suggested. “I wish you all the best. I’m sure you’ll do great.”
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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