Otago farm manager fined over smashing spree

Jaime Pickens (29) will pay nearly $1000 to cover the damage he caused during a joyride with mates. Photo / Robb Kidd

An Otago farm manager who deliberately destroyed several road signs could have caused catastrophe with his "idiotic driving", a judge says.

Jaime Lee Gaastra Pickens, 29, was showing off to his passengers when he embarked on the late-night rampage, the Dunedin District Court heard this week.

"He was with younger people, he was carried away and behaved in a juvenile fashion," counsel Alex Bligh said.

"He completely admits this is absolutely stupid behaviour."

Pickens was driving the Toyota ute, equipped with a large bull bar, on October 24 in Fennesy Rd when the destructive joyride began.

At the intersection with Naseby-Ranfurly Rd, he crashed into a give way sign, snapping it at the bottom.

From there, the defendant deliberately ploughed into a farm gate before continuing north towards Naseby.

Over a distance of a couple of kilometres, Pickens smashed into two road signs, an ice warning sign and a speed advisory sign near a corner.

Approaching Naseby, his recklessness proved to be his downfall.

He veered across the road in a bid to take out yet another sign but in the process of ramming it, the ute became bogged in a ditch and he was unable to reverse out.

Judge David Robinson called it a "sustained course of idiotic driving".

"There seems to be a bit of bravado involved in this offending.

"While you perceive yourself as a role model for younger staff you certainly haven't behaved in a manner consistent with that," he said.

The judge highlighted how dangerous Pickens' actions were.

A missing give way sign could have seen another driver pass through an intersection and into the path of traffic and similarly an absent speed advisory indicator might have proved fatal for a someone who was unaware they needed to slow down, he said.

It was "very much a case of good luck and not good management" that no-one was hurt, Judge Robinson said.

Pickens was fined $500 and ordered to pay reparation of $952, along with court costs of $130.

He was banned from driving for a month.

Bligh said her client was "very embarrassed and very remorseful" and would pay the financial penalties immediately.