Infamous repeat offender Peter Stirling thrown a home detention lifeline by Tauranga judge

Peter Thomas Stirling was sentenced to 12-months home detention in the Tauranga District Court. Photo / File

Peter Thomas Stirling spent 24 years of his life behind bars and faced more jail time, but a Tauranga judge last week gave him the chance to prove he can change his ways.

The 54-year-old convicted rapist, infamous prison escapee and convicted armed robber served his 24 years in Australian and New Zealand prisons.

His latest offending related to stealing a car, fleeing police, driving the car in a
reckless manner, ramming a patrol car twice and stealing tools from a construction site.

Stirling was deported back to New Zealand in 2007 after serving 19 years in a Brisbane jail for rape and kidnapping and was also jailed for four years in 2012 for armed robbery.

A decade earlier his escape from the Sir Dave Longland Correctional Facility in Brisbane on November 5, 1997, hit the media headlines across Australia.

According to the Sun Herald, Stirling, accompanied by a notorious armed robber and three murderers, cut their way to freedom and a massive police manhunt ensued.

It was described as the "most sensational mass escape in Australian's prison history".

Stirling was recaptured two days later after he crossed the New South Wales border and headed for Tweed Heads and a brothel. He was arrested after a tip-off to police.

In April 2012 he was jailed for four years in the Tauranga District Court for the knifepoint robbery of a Gate Pa man of his car on August 2011, while he was strung out on P.

He threatened to stab the victim if he told police and crashed the car after a high-speed police pursuit. He tried to steal another man's car while armed with a wooden stake.

On Friday, Stirling was facing doing more jail time when he appeared in the Tauranga District Court via an audiovisual link from prison.

He pleaded guilty to one charge each of theft of a motor vehicle, failing to stop for police, reckless driving and aggravated assault on police using a vehicle as a weapon.

He also admitted a burglary charge, after stealing about $1000 of tools from a Tauranga construction site on November 12. The tools were recovered with Stirling's help.

The first charges relate to Stirling stealing a woman's car valued at $7500 from the Caltex station in Welcome Bay Rd on December 20 while the owner was paying for petrol.

Stirling then fled police when located on Victory Rd and sped off driving at "well in excess" of the 50km/h limit and drove on to the wrong side of Welcome Bay Rd.

He also overtook oncoming traffic as he passed Welcome Bay Shopping Centre, and also overtook another vehicle on yellow lines as other motorists drove towards him.

Driving at more than double the 60km/h speed limit, Stirling lost control as he turned into Kaiwha Rd, and the car came to rest across the intersection.

As police approached, Stirling reversed the vehicle into a patrol car, then drove down a gravel driveway, colliding with a gate.

As police tried to block the road, he drove into the rear of the police car, and when the vehicle became stuck, another police unit managed to block his escape.

Stirling ran off and hid in some nearby bushes. He was arrested a short time later.

The motor vehicle was written off, but the owner had insurance, the court heard.

Crown prosecutor Oliver Salt submitted the sentence start point should be three years prison, plus six months for past convictions and 25 per cent discount for guilty pleas.

Stirling's lawyer Viv Winiata argued that the Crown's starting point was too high, the burglary offence was "relatively low-level" and all the items were recovered.

Judge Paul Mabey QC. Photo / File

Winiata urged Judge Paul Mabey QC to give Stirling the chance to reform his ways by serving a home detention sentence at a residential rehabilitation centre.

Stirling, who has longstanding substance abuse issues, was "keen to embrace" that opportunity, despite the 12-month programme not being an easy route to take, he said.

Judge Mabey, who also had the benefit of written reports, said he was persuaded to grant home detention given Stirling's obvious rehabilitative needs.

The judge said he took the view that it was in Stirling's and the community's interest that he was given the chance to undergo counselling in the hope that he can "turn the corner".

But Judge Mabey told Stirling that if an accredited rehabilitation facility had not been available, home detention would have been "out of the question".

Stirling was sentenced to 12 months' home detention with nine months release conditions.

He has also been disqualified from driving any motor vehicle for 18 months.