Woman jailed for cop attack

A woman has been jailed for attacking a police officer.

One of the the prime instigators of a brutal attack on two police constables in Dargaville has been sent to jail with a judge warning those who assault officers should expect no sympathy from the courts.

Alissa Gooding, 27, pleaded for a non-custodial sentence when she appeared in the Whangarei District Court saying she stopped drinking about a year ago and was a solo parent.

But during sentencing recently, Judge Duncan Harvey said the courts had an obligation to send a strong message that attacks on police officers carrying out their duty were totally and utterly unacceptable.

"Attacks on police officers are becoming more prevalent in society and a message has to go out that if you attack them in the due execution of their duty, you should expect to go to prison," the judge told Gooding while sentencing her to two-and-a-half years.

She earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of injuring with intent to injure.

About half-a-dozen firefighters stepped in and protected Constable Ewen Cumming and another officer who were attacked at a Tirirau Rd property in Dargaville on Christmas Day 2013 while attending a complaint about teenagers damaging letter boxes and street signs in the area.

Mr Cumming was set upon after he was forced to strike his police baton on Gooding's thigh when she tried to stop him from taking an arrested man to a patrol car. Gooding and others partying at the property kicked and punched the officer after he was knocked to the ground.

Judge Harvey said it was a prolonged attack involving multiple attackers on Mr Cumming's who knew help was "a long way away".

Gooding's lawyer, Lucy Postlewaight, advocated for a non-custodial sentence and said alcohol affected her client's response on the night the attack happened.

If jail was the only alternative, she asked if the term imposed could be as short as possible.

Judge Harvey said had it not been for Gooding, the attack on a vulnerable law enforcement officer was unlikely to have happened.

Stewart Anthony Tahere, 27, was jailed for 13 months in April last year after he pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a police officer and escaping police custody. Another accused, Joshua Terrence Mohetaue, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and he will go on trial in March next year.