Northland cancer sufferer spared jail on multiple driving charges

The Whangārei District Court has shown mercy to cancer sufferer Pene Armand by sentencing him to home detention rather than sending him to prison. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Jail would have been inevitable for Armand Pene on a string of driving charges had he not been suffering from terminal lung cancer.

In what can only be described as a horrible coincidence, the 33-year-old Northlander discovered he had cancer after an X-ray following a car crash in which he suffered serious chest injuries in December 2018.

Doctors saw spots on his lungs after the car crash and a CT and biopsy the following day confirmed cancer began in his mouth and spread to his neck, throat, covered both lungs, and spread to his liver.

A Givealittle page raised $2371 for the father of five.

In March, Pene sought a sentence indication in the Whangārei District Court on six charges of driving while disqualified, and single charges of failing to stop, failing to remain stopped, driving while impaired with drugs, refusing blood, and resisting arrest.

In his sentence indication, Judge Keith de Ridder said he would be prepared to consider a sentence of home detention if a suitable address was available given Pene's health situation.

Pene accepted the sentence indication, pleaded guilty to all charges, and appeared in court on a wheelchair last Friday for sentencing.

Judge de Ridder imposed a sentence of six months' home detention on all charges, saying there was no point in imposing any other sentence including imprisonment which otherwise would have been ordered.

He fixed a minimum starting point of 20 months in jail with a three-month deduction for guilty pleas.

There were multiple instances of offending while on bail, failing to stop, and two charges of driving while disqualified involved either drug or alcohol-impaired driving.

Given the repeated driving offences, he said no sentence less than jail would be sufficient to mark the seriousness of Pene's offending.

"However, acknowledging the difficult health situation you face, I would be prepared in the particular circumstances of your case to consider home detention if there was a suitable address," he ruled.

Pene was disqualified from driving for 18 months. He is indefinitely disqualified at the moment.