Chowed down on pie without paying

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

A woman on home detention was charged with aggravated robbery after she went to a dairy in a drunken state, ate a pie without paying for it, and pulled out a knife.

Michaela Jane Whakaue-Evans, 30, was relieved of the robbery charge but pleaded guilty to theft, possession of a knife in public, and three breaches of home detention.

Shop staff at Riverview Dairy on Wairoa’s Marine Parade were shaken by the incident, which happened at about 6pm on February 18, this year. Stumbling about, Whakaue-Evans took a pie from the warmer oven then took it to the counter but couldn’t manage to pay. She whipped a $50 note out of her bra, waved it about but wouldn’t hand it over, then began eating the pie and pulled out a knife.

Sentencing her this week in Gisborne District Court, Judge Stephen O’Driscoll accepted Whakaue-Evans’ had a problem with alcohol, which was the underlying reason for the offending. The judge imposed 12 months of intensive supervision to be followed by six months of conditions.

Prosecutor Cameron Stuart said the Crown was supportive of the supervision sentence, which was recommended in a pre-sentence report and sought by defence counsel.

Whakaue-Evans would have to comply with nine special conditions attached to the sentence, including that she abstain from alcohol and other drugs, submit to random drug testing, undergo various assessments and programmes, and not go within 10 metres of the Riverview Dairy or any licensed premises apart from supermarkets. She will be GPS monitored throughout.

Post-detention conditions that were still applicable after the previous sentence expired in May, were cancelled in lieu of the new sentence.

Judge O’Driscoll said the Crown also wanted some community work imposed but in his view that would set Whakaue-Evans up to fail.  It was more beneficial for her and the community at large if she focused her efforts on the requirements of the intensive supervision.