But during Friday’s sentencing in the Wellington District Court, she continually interrupted the hearing with loud outbursts, mostly directed towards the Crown prosecutor Lee van der Lem and the judge.
“Why are you being so mean to me?” she asked Judge David Laurenson, KC, as he read out excerpts from several reports outlining the woman’s significant mental health problems and crippling addiction issues.
The court heard her life had also been punctuated by a series of tragic events, including her mother’s suicide, the death of her son, and repeated attempts to take her own life, which began at the age of 9.
The question was whether the woman’s significant issues contributed to her offending. Judge Laurenson agreed they did.
I’m going to chuck acid at you
According to the summary of facts, the woman walked into a Wellington house in April 2025, carrying an unlabelled wine bottle containing sulphuric acid.
After sitting down in the living room, she became argumentative and refused to leave.
When challenged, the woman poured some of the acid on the floor before throwing it at the victim.
The acid landed on the victim’s shirt and left chemical burns on their skin.
Eight months later, while on bail for the first charge, the woman got into an argument with a stranger, not far from the house where the earlier attack occurred.
When the stranger asked about the woman’s welfare, she replied: “Just you wait, I’ll deal with you later.”
The woman then threatened the victim, saying, “I’m going to chuck acid at you.”
While walking past the victim, the woman said, “Just wait, I’ll come back for you, I know where you live.”
Significant trauma and complex mental health
The woman’s lawyer, Julia Spiers, said her client had suffered significant instability and various trauma since infancy, to the point her drinking and drug use now impacted every aspect of her life.
Spiers told the court the woman had made several attempts to get clean, but the death of her son had caused her to relapse.
Spiers sought discounts for the woman’s background and personal circumstances, addiction, prospects of rehabilitation and remorse.
While the defence submitted the woman’s offending was causative, van der Lem submitted it wasn’t, suggesting there was no obvious link between the addiction and the offending, suggesting that substance abuse had led to her mental health problems.
Judge David Laurenson, KC, found there was a link between the offending and the woman’s addiction and mental health.
After hearing from the woman’s probation officer, he accepted that she had some prospects of rehabilitation and was motivated to address her issues.
Judge Laurenson sentenced the woman to 15 months’ imprisonment on each charge, to be served concurrently. He also ordered she be subject to six months’ supervision upon her release.
But given the amount of time she’d already spent on remand, the court heard would likely be released soon, although that was at the discretion of the Department of Corrections.
A hearing to decide if the woman’s name will be permanently suppressed will be held in May.
Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.
