An out-of-control Northlander who failed to stop for police, crashed the car he was driving into a school bus, and fled the scene has been jailed for nearly two years.
It was also revealed in the Whangārei District Court, where Quinton Hamilton appeared for sentencing yesterday, that he threatened to stab his mother with a diving knife inside a car which forced her to call for help.
The 30-year-old earlier pleaded guilty to a raft of charges and was sentenced to one year and 11 months in jail.
The charges included failing to stop, failing to remain stopped, failing to ascertain injury, dangerous driving, wilful damage, unlawful carrying/possession of a firearm, intentional damage, and breach of protection order.
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Advertise with NZME."You must realise that this was a serious set of offending. Whether you were using methamphetamine or some sort of other drugs, I don't know. But what I do know is that you were almost out of control," Judge Duncan Harvey said while sentencing him.
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In July last year, Hamilton was at a house without permission when the occupant yelled out for him to leave.
He eventually left and police found two shotgun shells in the passenger seat of a car he was driving that day.
In August and September, he damaged the window of a car on Kamo Rd and on a separate occasion, threatened a woman who he accused of narking to police.
Judge Harvey said on September 17, police clocked Hamilton driving at 115km/h along State Highway 1 in Towai and activated the red/blue flashing lights for him to stop.
Hamilton stopped at a gas station and while a constable was on his way to speak to him, he drove away at speeds of up to 130km/h.
He overtook a vehicle towing a boat on double yellow lanes before entering the Matawaia-Maromaku Rd, south of Kawakawa, where he smashed into a school bus.
Fortunately, the judge said the bus driver had finished the school run.
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Advertise with NZME.Hamilton fled the scene but was located in a disused old house.
While on bail on the driving charges, he again fled from police after giving a wrong name to an officer who had to move to avoid being hit in Kaikohe in December.
On another occasion, while being driven to Kaikohe by his mum, he threatened to stab her with a diving knife and she found an opportunity to escape to a friend's house when Hamilton got out of the car and spoke to an associate.
He has been disqualified from driving for 18 months.
