The judge was sentencing him on a charge of endangering transport, punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment, and eight charges of intentional damage endangering life, for which a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment applies.
The Crown wanted Smith jailed. Prosecutor Amanda Bryant said it was “very serious”, prolonged, offending, which had posed a significant risk to the public. It needed to be met by a stern response.
She accepted Smith had complex rehabilitative needs. However, the Department of Corrections did not think it could manage him appropriately in the community, Ms Bryant said. He remained a high risk of reoffending and that wouldn’t change unless he stayed away from alcohol and other drugs, kept to his treatment regime and underwent suitable rehabilitative programmes.
Smith took exception to Ms Bryant’s assessment of him “doing well in custody”, interjecting to tell the judge about his ear.
Counsel Michael Lynch (appearing for Alistair Clarke) said Smith had spent too much of his life in prison and was at risk of becoming institutionalised. It was time the court took “a different approach”.
Smith’s time on remand for this offending (the equivalent of an 11-month prison term) was sufficient to meet any punitive aspect required. Any additional sentence should be focused on Smith’s rehabilitative needs that would be best met in the community. It would enable Smith to get off his treadmill of offending and imprisonment. There were numerous mitigating factors to warrant it.
Judge Bolstad agreed. She noted Smith was still a patient under the Mental Health Act so the probation service wouldn’t be alone in the task of overseeing him in the community. He also had some good whānau support.
Having reached a nominal end sentence of 18 months imprisonment, the judge converted it to 15 months intensive supervision with three-monthly judicial monitoring.
She said home detention wasn’t an option as Smith had no suitable address.
Reparation wasn’t ordered — none of the victims sought it. Only one supplied a victim impact statement. That driver said he was shocked and angered by the incident. The car he was driving was his uncle’s, who had had to pay the excess on his insurance to fix the damage.
Determining a sentence starting point of three years’ imprisonment, the judge referred to two cases. One involved an offender sentenced to six years imprisonment for manslaughter after he dropped a concrete block from a bridge onto a vehicle beneath, killing the driver. The other involved an offender sentenced to two years imprisonment after he threw a rock at just one car, shattering its windscreen and causing the driver to veer off the road and crash.
The judge said Smith was only lucky not to have caused far more serious consequences by his offending.
She uplifted the starting point by a month to reflect Smith’s numerous relevant prior convictions dating back to 2011.
Discounts totalled 50 percent — a full 25 percent discount for Smith’s guilty pleas, five percent for his remorse, and 20 percent for his background factors, which Mr Lynch said were sadly typical of those for many offenders in this region.
This was Smith’s chance to address his issues, the judge said. If he kept offending, he would be back in jail for “longer and longer” times.
The sentence also covered a charge of assaulting police, Smith admitting he spat at an officer.
Read More: https://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/news/accused-determined-to-enter-guilty-pleas
