Woman sentenced for assaulting Motueka parking warden, smashing hotel window

"Something is not right and you need to sort it out," a judge has told a woman who assaulted a parking warden after she was given a ticket. Photo / Doug Sherring

When Misty Mikaere spotted a parking warden strolling along the street in Motueka, she swore at her before assaulting her for issuing a ticket.

Now, she’s been sentenced to 150 hours of community work and nine months’ supervision for the assault, plus another charge related to her breaking a window in the hotel where she’d been drinking in the early hours of April 30.

During sentencing in the Nelson District Court today, Judge Jo Rielly told Mikaere the victim had been left frustrated by the time the matter had taken to go through the court, and afraid for her safety.

“She feels she is now constantly having to look over her shoulder,” Judge Rielly said.

Mikaere last month admitted the assault charge, which happened last October.

“She [the parking warden] was only doing her job and didn’t deserve to be treated like this,” Judge Richard Russell told Mikaere when she appeared in the Nelson District Court last month.

On the afternoon of October 4, the warden was walking along Pah St in Motueka near the Countdown supermarket when Mikaere saw and yelled out, “you f****** b****, you gave me a ticket”, then started to walk towards her.

The warden stopped at a pedestrian crossing before Mikaere followed her as she crossed the road.

Mikaere then grabbed the warden by the neck and pushed her to the ground, before Mikaere’s sister pulled her away and they left the area.

The warden ended up with a sore neck, similar to whiplash, she told the police.

Judge Russell convicted Mickaere and remanded her on bail for sentencing, to attend Restorative Justice, and to hear the victim’s views.

However, this did not proceed.

Judge Rielly said today that both offences, including that Mikaere had abused staff at the hotel where she’d broken the window, showed someone who was disrespectful towards others, and “probably someone with a significant alcohol problem”.

“Something is not right here, Ms Mikaere and you need to sort it out,” Judge Rielly said, adding that no one wanted to see her end up in prison.