Phone ban breach lands sex offender back in jail - after he used phone to call police

Michael John Kight appearing in court via video link last year. Photo / File

A child sex offender has been sent back to jail for illegally using a cellphone in breach of prison release conditions.

Michael John Kight, who turns 26 in September, used the phone to call police last month and inquiries revealed he had also used the phone for other purposes.

Back in custody since his arrest, he appeared before Judge Arthur Tompkins yesterday in Napier District Court and was sentenced to a further three months' jail on a raft of charges.

Three of the charges involved breaching conditions of his release from prison and one each of providing misleading information to the child sex offenders' register team, and possession of a pipe for the use of methamphetamine.

Kight had been released from Rimutaka Prison on February 28, after serving part of a sentence of one year and 11 months for offences revealed after a dating app user told police of Kight's discussions about wanting to abduct and sexually abuse young boys.

Those offences included sending objectionable material to a police officer posing online as a 14-year-old male.

Kight made his call to police in Wellington on May 26, but later denied having had the phone.

He was arrested at Hawke's Bay Airport on June 8 after police had been told of an abusive text message he had sent to a family in Hawke's Bay.

Kight made national headlines in February 2010 and was jailed for 12 months when he stole a $280,000 Audi from a family friend before crashing at 250km/h.

Then aged 17, he pleaded guilty in Napier District Court to a spate of offences including burglary, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, unlawful possession of a firearm, dangerous driving, driving while forbidden and driving while intoxicated.

All those charges arose from a whirlwind two hours of drunken offending on October 7 where he entered a friend's house, stole sunglasses, designer watches, jewellery, laptop computers, cell phones, cameras and other electrical goods.

He also uplifted two shotguns, a .22 rifle, BB-gun and over $500 in foreign currency.

He loaded the goods into a V8-powered Audi R4 sedan parked in the garage and drove off.

Two hours later, travelling in excess of 250km/h, he lost control of the car on Farndon Rd and smashed into a barrier.

His then lawyer, Roger Philip, told the court his client had considerable mental health issues, and there were no medical institutions in New Zealand that could deal with his needs.

Kight's parents had spent $500,000 on private rehabilitative schools as far afield as the United States and Samoa.