Jovahna Samuels did not get far on her joyride in a public bus. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Jovahna Samuels did not get far on her joyride in a public bus. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A passenger who seized control of a $200,000 public bus during an argument with the driver and tried to drive off without him has been jailed.
Jovahna Samuels, 38, closed the door on the bus driver after he stepped out of the vehicle to call the police.
The bus lurched a couple of metres before coming to a stop, Judge Stephen Bonnar pointed out this week when Samuels appeared in Auckland District Court for sentencing on a charge of trying to steal the bus and almost a dozen unrelated charges.
Defence lawyer Trunelle Massyn acknowledged the attempt to take the bus was the most serious crime her client faced, but she emphasised that the wording of the charge perhaps made the situation sound more serious than it was.
The lawyer had tried to enrol Samuels in the New Beginnings Court, which focuses on helping defendants who are homeless rehabilitate. But she accepted that Samuels would instead receive her first sentence of imprisonment after not engaging with the specialised programme.
Samuels had gotten on the 83 bus, which starts at Massey University on Auckland’s North Shore, last September.
When the bus got to the end of the line in Takapuna, she refused to disembark. Instead, the judge noted, she was verbally abusive before clambering into the driver’s seat as the Auckland Transport employee stepped off the bus to call for backup.
Six days later, Samuels picked up wilful damage charges after throwing rocks at the Mairangi Bay Surf Life Saving Club and at the nearby North Shore Community Toy Library - damaging windows.
Mairangi Bay Surf Life Saving Club in Auckland's North Shore. Photo / Google
On October 3, she was caught taking a shower in a vacant home and locked herself inside when police arrived. The next day, she tried to shower in the men’s locker room at Massey University before staff told her to leave.
“You remained in the dressing room and became verbally aggressive to the witness and other staff,” Judge Bonnar noted, explaining that police eventually had to pepper spray her after she threatened officers as well.
There were also multiple shoplifting and trespassing charges, including at Farmer’s and the Northcote YMCA, and a charge of ignoring her community work requirements from a previous sentence.
Auckland District Court Judge Stephen Bonnar. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Judge Bonnar ordered a four-month starting point for the bus charge, with an additional uplift of four months for all of the other charges. He then allowed a two-month discount for Samuels’ guilty pleas, resulting in an end sentence of six months’ imprisonment.
Once released, Samuels will be required to complete any treatment, counselling or programmes as directed by her probation officer.
“That’s unfortunate she didn’t want to go through New Beginnings,” the judge lamented to her lawyer as Samuels was led back to a courthouse holding cell.
Samuels stood for the entire hearing, declining the judge’s invitation to sit. At different points in the hearing, she fanned herself with a notebook, pointed at empty spots in the courtroom and mimicked a choking sound.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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