Latest news with #JudgeJoRielly
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Teen denied ‘clean slate' after Youth Court sentencing for violence
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice Journalist of In July 2023, the youth was involved in a prolonged incident involving a victim who was attacked while waiting for friends outside a takeaway store. (File photo) Photo: 123RF A teen kicked a boy in the head so hard it sounded like someone "kicking a rugby ball through goal posts". The boy was one of six people the teen attacked or threatened in a range of separate incidents over a 14-month period. Another victim had her hair pulled out as she tried to avoid the teen's grasp, while a neighbour moved house because she was so afraid of him. The now 18-year-old, who was 16 when the violence started, has been denied the chance for a "clean slate" during a Youth Court sentencing in Nelson. Judge Jo Rielly made an order under a section of the Oranga Tamariki Act that a record would remain that he committed the offences, but they were not convictions, which was an "important distinction". Judge Jo Rielly said a record for the teen would remain, but they were not convictions. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal She said she understood that was not what the youth wanted to hear, as a permanent record could harm his chances of the dreams he held for the future, but the public interest and protection of the community had to be weighed up against his own wellbeing. The youth, who has automatic name suppression, sat nervously beside his lawyer Michael Vesty this week during sentencing on charges of injuring with intent to injure, threatening grievous bodily harm, disorderly behaviour, assault, wilful damage and threatening behaviour. Judge Rielly described Vesty as "stoic and somewhat clinical" for the efforts he had invested in the youth personally. Vesty had encouraged the youth at a local gym and was proud of what he had achieved and the efforts he had made to change. "He's not drifting and is capable of hard work," Vesty said. Senior Constable Jude Yeoman brought to court the broken spectacles that belonged to one of the victims, to show the force of the assault. "The notion he's a different person now is stretching the truth," Yeoman said. He noted that the youth's offending was primarily against females, or those considered vulnerable, including one of his victims who still suffered the effects of a brain injury from an earlier car accident. In July 2023, the youth was involved in a prolonged incident involving a victim who was attacked while waiting for friends outside a takeaway outlet. The youth was with another young person who punched the victim first, forcing him to stumble backwards and fall. The youth then joined the group, which had set upon the victim, kicking and punching him. The victim tried to get away by jumping over a fence, but the group followed and attacked him again. He ended up on the ground at which point the youth went behind him and kicked him in the back of the head with such force it sounded like he had "kicked a rugby ball through goal posts", Judge Rielly said in summarising the facts. The group dispersed when vehicles appeared. The victim was left with cuts, bruises, grazes, a concussion and broken glasses. On a day between late December 2023 and January 2024, the youth threatened a staff member at a local department store with grievous bodily harm after he was confronted. The staff member, in her 60s, said the youth had regularly been at the store "causing issues". When another staff member asked him to leave, and as the victim watched, he "got in her face" and told her he would "bash her head in". Around the same time, the youth assaulted a 14-year-old girl, and he assaulted another female in a vehicle in March last year after she refused his demands to be dropped off at an address. The youth, seated behind her, grabbed her by the hair and slapped her in the head and arm. As she leant forward to avoid him, some of her hair was ripped out. He then got out of the car and began kicking the door, which broke the wing mirror. In September last year, he was again charged with injuring with intent. The youth, who was on bail at the time, was with a group that approached a man in a public park and asked about his watch in an apparent effort to trade it. The youth chased him as he went to leave and knocked him to the ground with a "king hit" to the back of his head. Despite being warned the victim had suffered an earlier brain injury, the youth kneed him in the head "four or five times". Judge Rielly said after the man returned home he suffered seizures and was admitted to hospital. About this time the youth also threatened his neighbour and threw rocks at her car and house. Judge Rielly said the abuse towards her and her partner was such that she had moved away. She said the victim impact statements revealed the level of concern about the youth's violent, controlling and bullying behaviour. Despite this, she hoped he would learn to channel his flair for influencing others for good. Judge Rielly noticed the efforts the youth had made to change through his writing and positive engagement with various programmes. She said his challenge now would be to remember daily everything he had experienced but through a lens that was aspirational, to make him into the man he should become. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- RNZ News
Campervan driver assaults elderly man on South Island highway
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice reporter of Photo: 123RF A campervan driver head-butted a 71-year-old who stopped on the side of a highway and confronted him about his dangerous driving. The victim had been following Daniel Juan Daly on SH1 in the lower South Island last September. The man saw Daly pass a large truck in a dangerous manoeuvre that forced an oncoming driver off the road. Further up the road the victim watched as Daly pulled over in his campervan, got out, stepped out into the path of the truck and bashed the side of it as it went past. "It's really quite astonishing behaviour," Judge Jo Rielly said in sentencing Daly in the Nelson District Court today on charges of assault and dangerous driving. The court heard how the 39-year-old was driving a campervan north on the state highway near Waitaki on September 5 last year. He was following the large haulage truck and trailer unit which was travelling at a governed speed of 90km/h, meaning it was unable to travel faster. The vehicles then entered a section of the road with an 80km/h speed limit, when Daly, who was frustrated at not being able to pass, made several "erratic moves". As Daly pulled out to pass, he crossed the centre line and accelerated, forcing a south-bound vehicle to take evasive action to avoid a collision. The older driver was travelling two vehicles behind the truck, the police said. When he saw Daly walk out in front of the truck, he pulled off the road and parked in front of his campervan. Daly asked the driver in a confrontational way what he wanted, before lunging at him and knocking him to the ground. The victim got up before Daly again knocked him down and then head-butted him. Police said that after a brief tussle, Daly helped the man to his feet. He was uninjured, but his glasses were damaged. Judge Rielly said he was lucky to be facing a low-level assault charge. Daly, who was no stranger to the court system, including having been earlier convicted on a dangerous driving charge, now lives in a remote area of Marlborough where he works as a pest controller. In Nelson he was convicted, sentenced and fined on the charges, despite his lawyer requesting a sentence that he come up for sentence if called upon. Judge Rielly said that was "an unrealistic submission". Defence lawyer Josh Friend said Daly accepted his manoeuvre in passing the truck was unsafe and that ordinarily he was a "reliable driver". Last year he received his heavy vehicle licence. Friend said Daly's last conviction for violence matters was 11 years ago, and in 2019 he was convicted on a theft charge. Friend said it was Daly's perspective that the scuffle ensued after he was approached by the other driver, but "he took the wrong action by head-butting him". Judge Rielly said Daly's actions had been particularly dangerous, not only because of the type of vehicle he had been driving but because of the sustained period he had been trying to get past the truck. She said his driving had put other road users at risk but his attempt to get in the path of the truck was "really quite astonishing behaviour". On the charge of dangerous driving, Daly was convicted and fined $400 and disqualified from driving for eight months. On the assault charge he was sentenced to 80 hours of community work and ordered to pay $200 in emotional harm reparation. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- RNZ News
Nelson man drives 200m to liquor store for cigarettes; gets 7th drink-drive conviction
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice reporter of Staff at the liquor store where Marcus Phillips went to buy cigarettes refused to serve him because of how intoxicated he was. Photo: 123RF A man's 200-metre drive to a liquor store for cigarettes ended in his seventh conviction for drink driving. Staff at a Liquorland store took the keys from Marcus Phillips when he walked in the door of the Richmond store on an afternoon last December, such was their concern at his state. He was also denied service because of his obvious level of intoxication, and staff called the police. Phillips, who has previously spent time in prison for drink driving in circumstances where a person was injured in a crash, blew a breath alcohol reading of 1296 micrograms per litre of breath, which was just over five times the limit. He later pleaded guilty to a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol on a third or subsequent time. "You were placing every member of the community near you at risk on the day you drove," Judge Jo Rielly said in sentencing Phillips in the Nelson District Court this week. Phillips told the police he had had beer, vodka and cider before driving to Liquorland to "get cigarettes". Judge Rielly said his decision to drive only 200m that day was "extremely concerning". "I don't know how you could have ever thought it would be okay to drive, when people at the liquor store had been so concerned about your level of intoxication that not only did they report it to police but also take your keys." She acknowledged his early guilty plea and the steps taken to "immediately get rid of his car" and take up biking as a means of transport. Defence lawyer Rob Ord said Phillips was "very apologetic". "He has a desire to have nothing to do with cars." Judge Rielly said it seemed Phillips did not trust himself not to drive, in circumstances where a vehicle was available. She also noted the "significant" head injury he had received 20 years ago after he was seriously assaulted. "I wonder if any drink is too much. You have a long-standing addiction to alcohol and deep down, you know that," Judge Rielly said. "Alcohol is not for everyone, and perhaps it's not for you." From a starting point of one year in prison, reduced to eight months with credits including his early guilty plea, the sentence was converted to four months of home detention. Phillips was disqualified from holding a licence for 18 months and was encouraged to apply for residential treatment for alcohol addiction. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
