Caregiver Theresa Anne Johnson, 59, leaves the Hamilton District Court this afternoon after being sentenced to eight months' home detention. Photo / Belinda Feek
Caregiver Theresa Anne Johnson, 59, leaves the Hamilton District Court this afternoon after being sentenced to eight months' home detention. Photo / Belinda Feek
A woman high on methamphetamine stole a car before discovering it had a baby strapped in the back seat, so she pulled over, left the infant on the side of the road and drove off.
Theresa Anne Johnson later told police she stole the car because she didn’t want towalk about 2km back to the Gisborne suburb of Kaiti, and didn’t realise there was a baby in the back.
The 4-month-old was soon found by a member of the public, who immediately called police.
The incident has left the baby’s mother “traumatised”, and as though “half her heart was taken away” when her child was taken.
Johnson, 59, who is listed as a “caregiver” in court documents, appeared in the Hamilton District Court this afternoon on several charges, including abandoning a baby, careless driving, driving while disqualified, theft of a motor vehicle, breach of community work and theft of clothing worth $1400.
‘Abruptly cut in front of traffic’
The incident happened about 1.15pm on February 6 last year when a couple stopped at the Golden Crust Bakery on Gladstone Rd, Gisborne, to get some lunch.
The woman and her partner went into the bakery, leaving their 4-month-old strapped in her car seat, and with the keys in the ignition to leave the air conditioning on.
Shortly after, Johnson appeared and got into the driver’s seat before pulling out of the carpark and cutting off traffic.
She then pulled into the “medium lane”, travelling west at speed along Gladstone Rd, before turning abruptly back into the left-hand lane without signalling and cutting in front of other vehicles.
Johnson then turned left on to Carnarvon St towards Childers Rd.
She then realised the baby was in the back, so pulled over on Childers Rd and removed the infant and car seat.
She put the baby in her seat on the edge of the footpath before driving off, and made no attempts to return the child or contact anyone.
A charge of theft of property worth $1400 related to Johnson stealing a man’s washing from a Hamilton laundromat on July 1, 2025.
Johnson’s counsel, Rebecca Senar, told Judge Swaran Singh that there was “no amount of remorse that’s going to take away the hurt that this family have suffered”.
“That’s accepted by Ms Johnson,” she said.
“She is extremely, extremely remorseful and was grateful that no harm was caused to that child on the day in question.”
She said her client could pay back the theft victim at $10 per week.
When asked by Judge Singh about his proposal to issue $500 emotional harm, Senar agreed it would be suitable but said it would take her client some time to pay back.
“The reality is she is only left with $85 after her rent is paid.”
Theresa Anne Johnson, 59, grabbed a face mask after noticing media outside the Hamilton District Court this afternoon. Photo / Belinda Feek
The judge said he would set the repayments at $20 a week, given how long it would likely take her to repay.
Senar said her client had spent 50 days in custody after being arrested and asked the judge to take that into account.
‘She hopes to set up a hairdressing business’
Judge Singh noted Johnson had previous convictions for dishonesty, violence and driving offences.
She told a pre-sentence report writer that she was high on meth at the time.
She’d also suffered trauma over the loss of her mother and had a bike accident aged 7, which caused memory loss that still affected her.
“You have also advised that you were bullied and subjected to abuse.”
Along with being a caregiver, Johnson told the writer she was a hairdresser and she hoped to set up a hairdressing business soon.
Judge Singh told her that if she did, she should increase her repayments to the court.
He took a starting point of 24 months’ prison before allowing discounts for her plea, remorse, personal circumstances and previous convictions, arriving at 17 months’ jail.
He took off a further three months for her 47 days in custody and got down to 14 months.
However, as she had not served a home detention sentence before, he agreed to convert that to eight months’ home detention with nine months’ post-detention conditions.
Judge Singh also disqualified her from driving for nine months.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.
