A teenager was this week told by a judge that he had made "a spectacular entry into the ranks of becoming a convicted criminal".
Automotive engineering student Kylan Quedley, 17, pleaded guilty to seven charges of stealing from a car, five charges of unlawfully interfering with motor vehicles and one charge each of resisting police, driving with excess blood alcohol under the age of 20, and careless use of a motor vehicle. The charges stem from two sets of incidents in February and last month.
Quedley, who had been drinking with friends earlier in the evening, drove to Matua about 3am on February 19 and parked in Levers Rd. He walked along various streets, stealing small amounts of cash from cars while a friend kept a lookout.
In Matua Rd, they tried to enter seven more cars. Quedley managed to steal coins from four of the vehicles before they were disturbed by an owner of one of the other vehicles, who called police.
Quedley and his associate were found nearby after being tracked by a police dog unit. Quedley refused to be handcuffed and struggled violently with police for several minutes before he was restrained. When searched, he had $50.60 on him and told police he needed the money for gas.
On March 5, Quedley was driving in downtown Tauranga when he braked heavily behind a car that had slowed to turn. He lost traction, skidded across the road, careering into two bollards on the footpath and a wooden fence.
He reversed and drove off.
A member of the public gave the registration number to police. Quedley was also caught driving with excess blood alcohol of 60 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - double the under-20 limit.
Lawyer Glenn Dixon told Judge Thomas Ingram that his client was a "young man who has got a lot of maturing to do" and had a "steep learning curve" from all this.
"It was simple immaturity and a lack of appreciation of the risk."
Mr Dixon said he doubted the court would see Quedley again.
Judge Ingram told Quedley he had made "a spectacular entry into the ranks of a convicted criminal which you now are".
"On one basis it was spree offending over a short period of time, and on another it was a pretty serious attempt by you to get noticed by police, the consequences of which will be with you for a long time to come and last pretty much all your life."
The judge sentenced Quedley to 120 hours' community work and disqualified him from driving for six months from May 8. He ordered him to pay $327.75 reparation to Tauranga City Council for the damaged bollards at $30 a week.
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