Phreedum Takimoana drove through farm to avoid Auckland checkpoint

Police check vehicles at the southern Auckland border checkpoint. Photo / Hayden Woodward

Phreedum Takimoana made a break for the border during last September's lockdown in Auckland, driving through a paddock to avoid the checkpoint as he drove south.

Takimoana's escape from Auckland eventually got him arrested and charged with breaching a Covid rule. He was sentenced in the Nelson District Court today to 80 hours' community work, having recently moved to the region to be nearer his mother.

After sentencing, which included a reprimand from Judge Richard Russell, Takimoana, 22, gave a thumbs up signal as he left the courtroom and asked police security if he was "all good to go".

Police prosecution said on the evening of September 30, when Auckland was in Covid level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country at alert level 2, Takimoana was driving south when he spotted a checkpoint ahead.

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He then drove through a nearby farm to get around the checkpoint. His vehicle was seen later at a fuel station at Turangi, and later again on State Highway 1 after he and two associates had pulled into another fuel station. They were eventually arrested and charged when it was found none had evidence of negative Covid tests, and were all bailed back to Auckland.

Defence lawyer Kelly Hennessey told the Nelson District Court today that Takimoana had a brother in Auckland but that a family argument had occurred, and he had come back to Nelson where his mother lived, for support.

Judge Russell told Takimoana that the Covid rules had been put in place for a good reason, which was to keep people safe from Covid-19, including his own whanau.

"I take a dim view of anyone breaking them, because it's not fair on others who did comply - they followed the rules and you didn't."

Takimoana was convicted and sentenced to 80 hours' community work.