Zahn Reidy car-jacked a woman and two children during his lengthy crime spree. Photo / 123rf
A man high on meth forced a woman out of her car and took off, taking with him the two young children strapped in the back seat.
Hours earlier, Zahn Christopher Reidy broke into or attempted to enter seven homes, stole two vehicles, and was busted at a Ngāruawāhia property during a crime spree lasting several hours.
His brazen break-ins took him across the Waikato, and the total cost to all victims clocked $30,500.
As a result, Reidy was recently in the Hamilton District Court for sentencing on numerous charges, including kidnapping.
Referencing Reidy’s short car-jacking incident, Judge Philip Crayton said it must “have been terrifying for the children”, and “agonising” for the woman who was only trying to help him.
It began and finished all on the same day, December 17, 2024.
It was 5.45am when Reidy went on to a Tauwhare Rd property and stole a handbag containing $2500 of property from an Isuzu truck, before taking off in a Mini Cooper worth $6000.
He drove that to a Whitikahu Rd property and parked up on a stock feed pad, next to a Mitsubishi ute.
Reidy got in the ute and drove off.
Seeing this, the ute owner got in the Mini and gave chase, but lost sight of his vehicle.
At 1pm, Reidy went to Driver Rd in Ngāruawāhia.
Wearing a high-vis raincoat, he walked on to a property before leaving and going next door.
He was picked up by her CCTV system trying the front door.
Reidy left without taking anything.
Thirty minutes later, he went to a River Rd property at Horsham Downs and took a child’s FMX70 motorbike.
However, as he was wheeling it down the driveway, he was confronted by the victim’s dog, so he dropped it and left.
A few doors down, a woman was at home when Reidy walked in. He grabbed her car keys and took off in her $7000 Holden vehicle, smashing it through a secured electronic gate, ripping it from its hinges.
He then made his way to Elgood Rd in the stolen Holden, and cut his arm after breaking into a garage window.
Reidy went to a neighbouring property and was standing at a ranchslider when the homeowner noticed Reidy standing there, bleeding, and holding a paper under his wrist to prevent it from dripping blood.
He asked her for help, so she applied a piece of gauze bandage, before he told her to “take him away”, saying that the police were after him and were going to kill him.
She managed to persuade him to leave.
Still driving the stolen Holden, Reidy then went to a Waingaro Rd property, where he dumped it, and swapped it for a truck.
He then also dumped the truck and took three fuel cards.
Reidy went into a house on Wilton Colleries Rd and took a set of keys.
The victim saw him trying to open a gate and yelled out, but Reidy ran off to a neighbouring property.
That property owner yelled out to him before calling police.
Then, a woman was driving her Honda Civic down Wilton Colleries Rd, near Glen Massey, about 3pm when she spotted Reidy.
Thinking he was a local, she pulled over.
Reidy told her someone was trying to kill him, and he walked to the passenger’s door and let himself in while asking for a ride, telling her he needed to go to the hospital.
The victim started driving and, at the intersection with Kereru Rd, saw a police car and heard the officer yell for her to stop.
Reidy told her to keep driving and shouted at her, forcing her to drive over road spikes.
He then grabbed the steering wheel while the victim braked, slowing to a stop.
Reidy then yelled at her repeatedly to get out before moving into the driver’s seat and driving off.
There were two young children in the back seat.
Fearing for their safety, police used their vehicle to push Reidy off the road, blocking him in, before arresting him.
At Reidy’s sentencing, defence counsel Gerard Walsh said it was clear his client had a “significant” drug addiction.
Reidy was, and accepted, that on the day of his crime spree, he was “terribly under the influence of methamphetamine ... stumbling around the north Waikato, trying to get away from police”.
“Obviously, it all ends with a very nasty endpoint, and that is something that the defendant does appreciate now in the cold light of day.”
However, while in custody at Manawatū prison, he had completed several rehabilitative programmes, and when he was released, he hoped to return to the area and get a job.
In the meantime, he was realistic; he had a lot of work to do on himself, Walsh said.
Regarding the kidnapping, Judge Crayton said while Reidy’s offending wasn’t premeditated, but he was in the victim’s vehicle without her consent.
“You effectively took over the control of the vehicle.
“At that point, there’s clearly the start of the kidnapping.
“It involved a relatively short period but, two periods of very high-risk behaviour.”
The first was forcing the woman to drive over the road spikes, and then driving off and detaining the children in the car.
“[That] resulted in police having to use drastic techniques to stop you driving.
“That must have been terrifying for the children.
“It must have been agonising for the adults in the circumstances.
“While it’s only fleeting, it’s difficult to downplay the gravity of the offending.”
Judge Crayton said Reidy’s delusions on that day spoke volumes for his “disorganised and distorted state of mind”.
After taking an overall starting point of five years and three months’ jail, the judge allowed discounts for Reidy’s pleas, background, and drug and alcohol addiction issues, totalling 42%.
He jailed Reidy for three years, one month and three weeks, and disqualified him from driving for one year.
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.