Lilly Quigley was high on methamphetamine when she got involved with two others in the burglary of the Hamilton Smallbore Rifle Club and Riverglade Archery Club in October last year.
Her co-offender, Michael van der Heyden, who was the lookout for Quigley and Rueben Wilson as they repeatedly went inside the rifle club, is now serving a home detention sentence for his role.
Sentencing was set down for October 2, but only van der Heyden heard his fate that day as Quigley turned up late and in an apparent drug-fuelled state.
Appearing in the Hamilton District Court, Quigley told NZME to “f*** off” and hid her face in her sleeve to avoid being photographed in the dock.
She had been on the run since June, when she pleaded guilty to the charges, and breached her electronically-monitored bail.
Judge Crayton told Quigley on Thursday, who reappeared via audio-visual link from Auckland Women’s Prison, that at her last appearance, she looked like someone who was under the influence of meth.
He didn’t want to sentence her in that state so remanded her until today when he remarked that she “looks a lot better today than she did last time”.
She was then jailed for two years and 11 months on six charges including burglary and offering to supply meth.
Wilson will be sentenced later this month.
The offending
The Hamilton Smallbore Rifle Club has a target shooting range and a gun safe that contained 14 .22 calibre rifles, cash, and tools, while a smaller safe had bolts, for the firearms, and 5000 rounds of .22 ammunition.
Between October 21 and November 11, last year, Quigley and Wilson travelled there multiple times in his car, while van der Heyden went along in his own car and was stationed outside as “the lookout”.
Over several days, Quigley and Wilson went to the club, forcing open the exterior door inside, along with another door before eventually getting to the safes.
Once Quigley was inside the firearms were passed out, and the smaller safe was removed.
Lilly Karen Quigley, 28, crawled through the hole made in a safe by her co-offender to get her hands on a smaller safe containing ammunition belonging to the Hamilton Smallbore Rifle Club last year. Photo / Belinda Feek
The contents of both safes, about $10,000, were put into Wilson’s car, and the firearms were taken out to a rural property and tested, while the pair also tried to sell the firearms “in the community” in exchange for meth.
The pair travelled to the Riverglade Archery Club some time between October 8 and 27 and broke into a container by cutting the padlock off, and on another occasion, cutting the entire reinforced locking mechanism.
Twelve bows, 72 arrows, eight sights, two metal detectors, and a cash box were stolen, valued about $8000.
Quigley also admitted three charges of receiving dehumidifiers between July and August last year and supplying 5 grams of meth between October and November.
‘She accepts she’s going to jail’
Counsel Kerry Tustin said her client knew she was going to get a jail sentence and accepted she wouldn’t get any credit for time on bail.
Police urged the public not to approach Lilly Quigley while on the run between June and October 2 this year. Photo / NZ Police
Tustin said she “had always been impressed by Miss Quigley as an individual” and regarded her as intelligent and someone with the skills to go far but she just lacked the right support.
Judge Crayton agreed Quigley was “bright” and said she had a good reason to stay clean once she was released, and that was for her children.
“But at the end of the day with anyone with an addiction, it’s going to be the question of dealing with it.”
As for determining who was the “mastermind” of the burglaries out of her and Wilson, Judge Crayton said he’d already decided that he was sentencing each of them individually.
“This was a relationship of mutual destruction. This was a completely dysfunctional relationship. There’s never a happy ending to those relationships.”
He told Quigley her offending was “serious” but acknowledged it was driven by her meth addiction which she’d picked up due to trauma suffered growing up.
However, he urged her to deal with that trauma as she will likely relapse once she gets out of prison, and reminded her that it would be something she’d have to battle with for the rest of her life.
“Miss Quigley, you have great potential ... I hope you can take the opportunity and fulfil that potential. Good luck.”
Meanwhile, van der Heyden was sentenced to seven months home detention and ordered to pay $1200 reparation.
Michael van der Heyden played a lesser role in the burglaries and was sentenced to 7 months home detention. Photo / Maryana Garcia
Judge Crayton said while he played a lesser role it was an integral one.
He’d also previously suffered a traumatic head injury which explained to a degree why he let himself be led by others.
“It is plain that you can properly be described as someone who is vulnerable because of those factors,” adding that he hoped he wouldn’t see him in court again.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for nine years and has been a journalist for 20.
