A South Canterbury father has been ordered to do a parenting course as part of his sentence after his attempts to quieten a crying baby left bruises on the mouth and cheeks.

Nathan Ruru Gray has a son of his own, but the bruises were inflicted on a 17-month-old baby he was looking after.

He was at the Christchurch address on home detention at the time, but now lives outside Timaru.

This weekend, he begins a four-month community detention sentence in South Canterbury, and Christchurch District Court Judge Brian Callaghan also ordered him to do 100 hours of community work.

He also ordered Gray to do nine months under supervision, during which the probation officer will order him to attend a parenting programme and drug and alcohol rehabilitation meetings.

Defence counsel Josh Lucas said Gray was already attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Gray, 31, had pleaded guilty to the charge of assaulting a child.

Mr Lucas said: “He describes it as a momentary loss of control borne out of frustration over his inability to work through the problems of dealing with a very upset young child.” Since then he had begun counselling to ensure he could work out how to deal with such issues.

The baby had been left in Gray’s care by the parents. When the child cried for 45 minutes, he placed his hand over the mouth for four seconds. The child stopped crying, but Gray placed his hand over the mouth again for six seconds when the crying started again.

He said he stopped because he felt it was wrong. The baby was left with bruises on the mouth and cheeks.

Judge Callaghan said Gray clearly knew it was serious offending and a prison term was “on the radar”. His actions had presumably restricted the child’s breathing.

“I hope you have learnt something from this. If you hadn’t stopped it could have been almost fatal for this child,” said the judge.

He said he could stop short of imprisonment because Gray had realised his actions were wrong, had admitted his offending to the parents, and pleaded guilty.

“The parents of the child are very concerned about what happened,” said the judge. “They want you to receive serious counselling so you become a better parent yourself.”

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Joshua Lukic says he is keen to meet the victims of his burglaries and thefts but at least one of them won’t be accepting that invitiation ahead of the 30-year-old’s sentencing.

“I don’t think I could talk to him,” said Ian Jones of Redwood, whose family medals were stolen in a break-in last December.

Items with a huge sentimental value to the family were taken and only a few of them have been recovered. Five-year Fire Service medals for him and his father have been found and returned, but his uncle’s New Zealand Memorial Cross has never been found.

The cross was issued to the family when his uncle was killed fighting at El Alamein, Egypt, in 1941. The medal is engraved on the back with the name of Private K L T Jones.

The family also lost jewellery, including a 42-year-old engagement ring and Mr Jones said today he believed the jewellery was probably overseas by now.

“The army don’t do medal replacements,” he said at the Christchurch District Court after Lukic pleaded guilty to 17 charges at the end of a court process Mr Jones has attended constantly.

A firm called Medals-R-Us could provide a replica of the Memorial Cross, but he said: “I really would like the original back.”

Lukic pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, theft, dishonestly using a bank card, interfering with a car, escaping and resisting the police, aggravated assault, and failing to answer bail. His plans to go to trial were abandoned when he pleaded guilty today.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll remanded him in custody for sentencing on May 25. He asked for a pre-sentence report, and referred the case for a possible restorative justice meeting with the victims.

Defence counsel Donald Dickson said Lukic was keen for that meeting.

Lukic also asked the judge if a psychologist’s report could be arranged ahead of the sentencing, but Judge O’Driscoll said he would leave that decision up to the Probation Service who will prepare the pre-sentence report.

Lukic has a history of offending including burglary, receiving stolen property, and robbery. An earlier sentencing session heard that his parents had apparently given him cannabis from the age of seven, because of issues with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He later stopped using cannabis, but began to over-use alcohol. There were also gambling issues.

Lukic’s careless trail of criminal bungles was outlined in the documents the police presented to the court.

His palm print was found at the scene of a Harewood Road burglary in which $3700 worth of electronics gear including a laptop was taken.

His fingerprints were found at the scene of a house burglary in Johns Road, Belfast, in which jewellery and electrical items worth $7900 were taken.

His palm prints were found on a side window at a house in Dunbarton Street, Belfast, where the Jones family’s jewellery and medals worth $10,900 were taken.

His fingerprints were found at the scene of burglaries in Gibbon Street, Sydenham, and in Paddington Street, Northcote.

Lukic used a credit card stolen in a burglary to make purchases totalling $331 at five stores.

On June 9, he broke into a vehicle parked at Hornby Mall, searched it, and then returned to it twice more without finding anything to take.

On August 2, Lukic and an associate put hoods over their heads and kicked open the door of a property in Niagara Street, Wainoni. They searched the garage and were caught by police one minute after leaving.

In April 2016, Lukic stole an $1100 cellphone that a woman security guard at the WINZ Papanui office left on the counter. He had gone there to change his address. Cameras recorded the theft, and the registration number of the car he left in. The cellphone was recovered and returned to the victim.

In December 2016, Lukic and a woman associate had a credit card that had been taken in a burglary of a house in St James Street, Papanui. It was used repeatedly for purchases totalling $564 over the next few days. It was traced to the offenders because the woman used it to top up her cellphone, and when it was used at the Sydenham McDonalds, a car registered to Lukic’s mother was recorded in the drive-through.

When he was arrested at an address in Mairehau on December 18, Lukic ran off down the driveway and jumped over two fences before being caught – and then he punched a police constable and threw another to the ground before running off again.

He was caught again, but the police had suffered lumps and grazes from the encounter.

“In explanation, Lukic stated he was going through a rough patch,” the police told the court.

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Community-based penalties lie ahead for a Christchurch man who says he accidentally emailed a sickening animal cruelty video to a journalist.

Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders said the video was meant to be a “sick joke” that 28-year-old Johnny Andrew McQuillan was sending to his Facebook friends.

Instead, it went out to a wider distribution list including the chief news director at The Press newsroom, Blair Ensor.

Ensor had had previous dealings with McQuillan and believed he was being targeted. “He saw it as a public duty to refer this matter to the police,” said Judge Saunders.

Ensor reported in 2016 that the SPCA had launched an animal cruelty investigation after McQuillan – described as having white supremacist links – posted another Facebook video showing a man biting the head off a live chicken.

McQuillan was arrested for the latest incident involving supplying an objectionable video late last year and pleaded guilty in December.

Prosecutor Aja Trinder said the video had been posted as a “sick joke” for his friends on Facebook. “It may have been seen as retribution by Mr Ensor given the nature of his earlier contact with this defendant.”

Defence counsel Rachel Wood said McQuillan’s mother had written a letter of apology, because McQuillan struggled with reading and writing after leaving school early. The letter apologised for any embarrassment he caused to Ensor, and wanted him to know that he was not being targeted.

The letter has now been given to the police for passing to the victim.

Ensor’s statement was read in court. He said: “Journalists have the right to go about our job without becoming the target of those we write about. We do not expect to be sent sickening, disturbing footage like the video you sent me.

“Unfortunately the footage was inadvertently seen by some of my colleagues, who were highly offended. It is difficult to comprehend why someone would possess and distribute footage showing such extreme animal cruelty. You are part of the problem.

“I hope the sentence you receive acts as a deterrent to those considering abusing and threatening journalists, and, more generally, those who distribute such horrific material.”

Judge Saunders said the maximum penalty of 14 years’ jail showed it was seen as significant offending, but he accepted that it was “stupid, unthinking offending” rather than a hate crime, or an attempt to “get at” the journalist.

He imposed three months of community detention with a nightly curfew, and 140 hours of community work. He placed McQuillan on supervision for nine months with a requirement to attend any course to deal with drug and alcohol issues.

He said some of the community work could be converted to training so that McQuillan could be “work ready” when he completed the term.

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A businessman who did not pay tax for his employees pleaded guilty to 44 charges totalling over a million dollars in the Christchurch District Court.

Libor Lasek, 47, admitted aiding and abetting Libor Interiors Ltd, Libor Living Ltd, Libor Ltd, and L Group Ltd in not paying the Inland Revenue Department PAYE payments to the department.

The businesses provided building and joinery services in the Christchurch construction industry, and were placed in liquidation in 2015 owing over two million dollars.

The companies failed to account for PAYE tax deductions, KiwiSaver employee deductions and contributions, student loan employer deductions, child support employer deductions and employer superannuation contributions.

The final amount the companies owed the Inland Revenue Department was $1,231,790.

Lasek had been reminded of his obligations on several occasions with statements of account, monthly letters, and warning letters from Inland Revenue outlining the overdue amounts.

In the same year the four companies were put in liquidation, Lasek was put in charge of Canterbury Joinery Ltd and failed to pay their taxes.

That company was placed into liquidation in 2017 owing Inland Revenue $132,882.

Judge Tom Gilbert remanded Lasek on bail for sentencing on April 18.

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A 35-year-old mother has admitted her role in a bank-card scam that netted a group more than $270,000 from elderly victims.

Reiana Janine Hilton’s victims were women aged from 74 to 95.

She is already serving a home detention sentence imposed in December for her compulsive shoplifting.

Today she admitted four charges of causing loss by deception and one of dishonestly attempting to take a bank card.

Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish remanded her on continued bail for sentencing on May 8. She asked for a pre-sentence report with a home detention assessment and indicated that home detention may be an option since Hilton was doing so well on her current sentence.

No reparation report was ordered. Crown prosecutor Chris Lange said he was not sure that any reparation could be expected in this case.

Hilton had denied the charges but switched her pleas to guilty a few days ahead of her scheduled trial.

Her offences took place from October 2015 to January 2016.

Mr Lange explained that since September 2015 a group of offenders in Christchurch had been targeting elderly women living on their own.

They usually cold-called the victims and told them there was a problem with their power or telephone account and they owed money. Power or phone would be cut off if the issue was not resolved.

The caller – usually a male – convinces the victim to provide their PIN number and a woman then calls around to pick up their “faulty” bank card, confirm the PIN, and provide a Prezzy card as a bank card replacement.

“The woman then leaves and usually within a 12-hour period the money is systematically withdrawn from the victim’s account,” Mr Lange said. “To date, in total, there are at least 30 victims to this fraud and over $270,000 has been obtained.”

Several offenders have been caught and jailed since the police began investigating the scam.

Hilton admitted a charge involving a 90-year-old woman who told the male caller her banking details, including her mother’s maiden name. He told her not to contact her daughter. The scammers then transferred $13,000 from her account into a “mule’s” account where they could access it.

Withdrawals of about $29,000 were made from a 92-year-old Merivale woman’s account and the Crown has identified Hilton making several of them using her bank cards.

She was recorded taking money from a 95-year-old woman’s account, from which more than $3000 was taken.

She used another 74-year-old victim’s bank card to make automatic teller withdrawals. More than $4000 was taken from that account.

When police interviewed Hilton, she denied her part in the offending but confirmed she was in a relationship with a man who had some of the money transferred into his account as a “mule”.

At her sentencing on shoplifting charges in December, Judge Farish imposed five months of community work at a Hoon Hay address and ordered her to undergo assessment, counselling and treatment as directed during the detention and for six months afterwards.

That may include a residential alcohol and drug treatment programme.

Judge Farish said then that Hilton knew that if she did not make positive changes she had no chance of being able to parent her youngest children. “You have got to stop using meth,” she said.

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A teenager has denied a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm over an early morning incident at a Northcote property on February 17.

The youth, who has interim name suppression, elected jury trial, defence counsel Chris Nolan told Christchurch District Court Judge Raoul Neave today.

The youth was further remanded in custody for a Crown case review hearing on May 2.

Judge Neave continued the suppression order but said it would have to be argued in court at the next appearance if it was going to be continued.

A 43-year-old man was taken to hospital in critical condition after the 2am incident.

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A man who robbed a sex worker’s customer has been jailed for 17 months and ordered to pay back the $40 he took and spent at a dairy.

Liam Christopher Chubb, 25, says he has had a good time in prison on remand after synthetic cannabis sent his life spiralling out of control.

Defence counsel Steve Hembrow told sentencing Judge Paul Kellar that Chubb had begun using synthetic cannabis when it was being sold legally. He continued when it was banned.

“He got into a bad habit, and then he got out of work. He was living from day to day,” said Mr Hembrow at Chubb’s sentencing for aggravated robbery and three charges of failing to attend court while on bail.

About 6.30pm on January 12, Chubb was at an address where a woman had arranged to meet a client for commercial sexual services.

When she left the bedroom, Chubb went in with a younger offender who had his face covered by a bandanna and holding something inside his jacket to make the victim think he had a weapon.

The victim handed over a cellphone and wallet containing $200. The items were recovered except for $40 that Chubb spent at a dairy.

Mr Hembrow said Chubb was very different person from when he was first arrested. His life had been disorganised, and he had been unable to keep appointments at court or with his lawyer. That caused his bail breaches.

He had a good time in prison, with drug and alcohol courses, Mr Hembrow said. “He has resolved never to get back into drug use. He feels he has absolutely wasted a couple of years of his life.”

Judge Kellar said there was no suggestion Chubb had lured the customer to the house for a robbery. He accepted that Chubb had no knowledge of the other offender’s “weapon”. The other robber was dealt with in the Youth Court.

He noted Chubb had three previous convictions for assault and one for assault with intent to injure.

A home detention sentence had been considered but there was no address available, so he jailed Chubb for 17 months with an extra six months for special conditions when he must do rehabilitation courses as directed, and ordered him to pay back the remaining $40 to the victim.

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A youth who planned a terrorist-style attack last year is doing well on supervision a month after his sentencing and has made his first visit for counselling at a mosque.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll received a report on his progress at a judicial monitoring session today, a month after the 18-year-old was sentenced.

A Community Probation official said the teen had begun his series of mosque visits yesterday as part of his supervision, and had also had his first session with a departmental psychologist. Both were still at the stage of “relationship building”.

Defence counsel Anselm Williams said the monitoring reports were positive. “I have met him several times, and spoken to him on the phone on other occasions. Everything seems to be going very, very well and I want that to continue, as would he.”

Mr Williams raised the question of whether judicial monitoring hearings could be reported, given the media presence in court, but Judge O’Driscoll said he would allow the reporting of the hearing in open court because of the interest in the case.

He remanded the youth for another monitoring session on April 17, which he has also ordered will be held in open court. The judge has the power to suppress details if he wishes, and large parts of this case are already covered by suppression orders.

Details of the offending cannot be published. The youth has interim name suppression but Judge O’Driscoll said at his sentencing that the order would not be made permanent until he successfully completed the two-year supervision sentence.

The youth converted to Islam and then planned to ram a car into a group of people and then stab them until the police killed him. He carried out a violent attack but later told a psychologist that he “decided not to hurt anybody because he did not have the means to kill enough people”.

At the time of the incident, he had written a goodbye note to his mother.

He spent months in custody with a suppression order preventing media reporting on the terrorism aspects of the case, but that order was lifted at his sentence, when a rehabilitative sentence was imposed.

He was sent to live in monitored and supported accommodation, on supervision that will ensure he attends counselling.

Judge O’Driscoll told him today: “The judicial monitoring report says you have been complying with your standard conditions and there are no concerns about that. You have been compliant with the special conditions that have been imposed and from the point of view of Community Corrections, they have no concerns about you.

“You have settled in well and are engaging with staff. I accept that you have probably not found it easy to adjust to your new environment.

“All the reports before me indicate everything’s going well. I encourage you to continue with that and make progress.”

There were no recommendations for any changes to the sentence, said the judge.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

Photographs of Kim Michael David Barwell should be plastered on the noticeboards at every shopping mall and supermarket, with the message: “You should not give money to this man.”

That was the wish of Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish, as she called him a “public menace” and jailed him for four years one month.

He will serve 22 months as a non-parole term before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board on 60 charges of scamming an elderly man out of $91,000.

It means the fraudster could technically be considered for release soon, since he has already served 24 months in custody on remand.

When he stood in the dock for sentencing today, the confidence trickster had run out of tricks.

He had delayed his hearings time after time.

He had had two sentencing indication hearings when judges told him what sentence he would get if he pleaded guilty, and he asked for a third. The indications got longer as time went by.

He tried four times for bail and electronically monitored bail, and appealed that refusal in the High Court.

He changed lawyers, and he finally pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial on charges of obtaining money by deception.

Now he has written a letter of apology to the victim, who will not get his money back, and a letter to the judge.

However, Judge Farish brushed aside Barwell’s claim that he was repaying the money he was “borrowing” from the 84-year-old victim, saying it was ludicrous. While he was paying the money back at $25 a week, he was still borrowing more – sometimes thousands of dollars a week.

Judge Farish calculated that it would have taken 75 years to repay all the money back to the man at $25 a week. In total, $750 was repaid before his arrest.

Defence counsel Anselm Williams said that Barwell was making repayments but he accepted that paying it all back was a “pipe-dream”. “He accepts that access to the money got in the way of reality.”

Prosecutor Chris Lange said that the guilty pleas saved the elderly victim having to go through a stressful trial.

Judge Farish said that at age 52, Barwell had 58 pages of previous convictions, including 328 for obtaining by deception and 50 for other dishonesty offences. Different types of sentences had never changed his behaviour. He was a recidivist fraud offender and a public menace.

He meets people in public places, upset and with tales of family problems, car breakdowns or lack of petrol, and convinces them to hand over cash.

He had met the latest elderly victim at Bishopdale shopping mall, greeting him like an old friend. The man, who has cognitive and memory lapses, did not recognise him but thought he might have forgotten. He accepted Barwell’s story of a motor accident and loaned him $650 he got from an ATM.

With tales of woes and calamities over the next six months, Barwell extracted $91,000.

The man had earlier had a Lotto win of more than $100,000. He said he was honest and trusting and would give the shirt off his back to a stranger in need. He told Barwell in his victim impact statement: “You almost destroyed me. You took away my trust and my savings, and more.”

He said he and his wife should have been enjoying their remaining years in retirement, but they were worried they would become homeless and had to remortgage their property. Their health had been affected.

Judge Farish said she was sorry that Barwell’s son had passed away while he was in custody and he had been unable to attend the funeral. “If that is a catalyst for change for you then that may redeem you, in terms of preventing you from reoffending.”

But she said he was a high risk offender.

“Your image should be posted at every shopping mall and supermarket where you have preyed on vulnerable people, with a big notice saying, ‘You should not give money to his man’.”

That was the way to keep the public safe, she said.

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A claimant who acknowledged having “quite extensive problems with EQC” has been convicted of damaging a row of the commission’s vehicles with paint stripper.

Russell Taylor Carr, 57, had admitted being in a two-year-long dispute with the commission but denied causing the damage.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll delivered his judgment today, three weeks after the judge-alone trial in the Christchurch District Court, where Carr had denied the charge of intentional damage.

The judge remanded Carr on continued bail for sentencing on May 18, and asked for a pre-sentence report to assess his suitability for home or community detention, and a reparation report on his ability to pay for the damage.

The police alleged the offence took place on July 1, 2016, when Carr drove his vehicle along Barry Hogan Drive, Addington, and sprayed a liquid in the direction of several EQC cars.

The defence said that while Carr may or may not have been in the area at the time, he did not spray the vehicles. They accepted that the vehicles were damaged but disputed that Carr was the person who did the spraying.

Carr did not give evidence nor call any witnesses. He said in a statement to the police that he denied being responsible for the damage.

A witness told the trial that five to seven vehicles had been damaged, and she saw security camera footage of a van travelling past the cars between 10am and 10.30am on July 1. She said she could see a vehicle travelling on the wrong side of the road and spray coming from the vehicle.

Later viewing of the camera footage showed the van travelling on Barry Hogan Drive three times that morning. She could see a logo on the van, and two initials and a surname with four letters, along with the words “decorating contractor”.

When she received a phone call from another witness a week later, she went outside and saw the vehicle. It had a logo, and the words, “R T Carr Decorating Ltd”.

The witness accepted that did not see the licence plate of the vehicle or give a good description of the driver after seeing the original footage.

A chemical consultant told the trial that the substance had caused paint to disintegrate and bubble away from under-lying surfaces. The substance was consistent with commercial paint stripper or a similar product.

A police constable spoke to Carr on August 4, 2016. He accepted that he had gone to EQC two or three times for meetings and that he did not hold EQC “in high regard”. He denied squirting any liquid at the cars.

He accepted he would have been driving the van that day, but said he had gone to a specific coffee shop near EQC at various times.

The constable reviewed the video in detail, and found that the wheels were similar to those on Carr’s van, the hubcaps were the same, the shape of the mirrors was the same, and the logo was the same. He could not make out the licence number.

He was able to see a stream of liquid being squirted by the driver.

Judge O’Driscoll said the case against Carr relied on circumstantial and opinion evidence. The prosecution asked the court to draw an inference that Carr was driving his van that day. There was no evidence that anyone else was driving the van on July 1, 2016.

He took into account that Carr acknowledged having “quite extensive problems with EQC”.

The cumulative effect of the evidence was that the charge was proved, said Judge O’Driscoll.

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A Christchurch couple has been charged with stealing nearly $1.4 million from an elderly widow.

They entered no pleas when they made first appearances before the Christchurch District Court today.

At the request of defence counsel Anselm Williams the couple were remanded on bail to April 17.

They have bail conditions not to contact the victim, not to dispose of a list of motor vehicles, to reside at a particular Christchurch address, and to surrender their passports to the police.

The charges refer to offending in 2016 and 2017.

Mr Williams sought name suppression because publication may have significant consequences for the businesses run by the couple. The man is aged 38.

The couple have been jointly charged.

They are alleged to have accessed a computer system to dishonestly obtain $1,340,900, and stealing the money from a woman.

They are also charged with stealing $52,600 from the woman in three further charges. In each case, they are also charged with accessing a computer system to obtain the money.

Suppression was granted and Mr Williams said documents and submissions would be provided to support it being continued at their next appearance.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Neil Williams said police did not oppose the suppression or the remand. “It’s quite a complex matter,” he said.

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A man who allegedly threatened animal welfare inspectors was found with videos and photographs of SPCA staff around the Justice Precinct on his cellphone, when he was being sentenced.

The material was found on 61-year-old Darryl Lawrie Mccartney’s phone after an odd incident that halted a sitting in the Christchurch District Court.

Before Judge David Saunders were Mccartney for sentencing on a charge of obstructing animal welfare inspectors, and his wife Victoria Anne Mccartney on charges of causing one cat to suffer, and failing to get veterinary treatment for another.

The Balcairn pair had denied the charges but were found guilty at a three-day judge-alone trial.

After the two went into the dock to be sentenced, a Court Security Officer noticed that a cellphone had been left recording on a bar in front of the public seating.

The officer passed a note to the court registrar who spoke to the judge. He immediately stopped the sitting and had defence counsel Joshua Shaw and SPCA prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk go into discussions about the incident in his chambers.

When the session resumed, Judge Saunders said the recording was not authorised – an official transcript was available if required – and it would be deleted from the phone by security staff.

Judge Saunders later reported that when the staff did that, they found other recordings of proceedings as well as photographs and videos of SPCA staff around the Justice Precinct at earlier sittings. All of the material was deleted from the phone and it was then returned to Darryl Mccartney.

The case arose from an incident in 2016, when a veterinarian reported to the SPCA that Victoria Mccartney had failed to keep to an arrangement to have a terminally ill cat named Michael euthanised.

The vet had made the arrangement on a Friday, leaving her to say her goodbyes to the cat over the weekend, so that it could be euthanised on Monday. She cancelled the visit, and the animal welfare officers then turned up at the couple’s farm.

Judge Saunders said that Darryl Mccartney then inflamed the situation with his erroneous view that the officers were not allowed on the property. In fact, they had a statutory function to ensure that animals were not suffering unnecessarily.

The inspectors said that Darryl Mccartney threatened them. Judge Saunders found him guilty of obstruction and referred to evidence of him being aggressive in his language and actions.

The cat Michael was euthanised and the inspectors noticed a second cat, Mary, which had cancers developing in the ears and nose, and also needed other treatment. It has since been treated and returned to the Mccartneys.

Mr Vanderkolk said he wanted people to realise that it was not open to animal owners to subvert the lawful directions of a veterinary surgeon.

Defence counsel Mr Shaw urged the judge not to impose any disqualification on owning animals. A recent report by an independent veterinarian has shown no issues about the care of the couple’s animals.

Judge Saunders said it was not a case of cruel ill-treatment of the cats. It was a bad judgment call in not having the cat Michael euthanised as arranged. Victoria Mccartney’s judgment had been affected by her strong attachment to the cat.

He decided it would be vindictive for the court to impose a ban on her owning animals.

The judge decided that supervision or community work were not warranted as penalties, but he imposed fines and reparation orders totalling more than $10,000.

He fined Darryl McCartney $1000, and ordered Victoria Mccarthy to pay $3000 in fines, and $4221 in reparations for the SPCA’s veterinary bills. He also ordered court costs and witness’ expenses totalling more than $2000.

He made an order that the fines should be paid to the SPCA rather than the courts, to pay some of the costs of its investigation and prosecution.

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Christchurch restaurateur Jonny Schwass has admitted misapplying tax payments totalling more than $300,000 before his company BTS Restaurants Ltd went out of business last year.

Forty-six-year-old Jonathon Charles Schwass pleaded guilty to 21 charges in the Christchurch District Court and was remanded for sentence on July 6.

Judge Simon Menzies asked for a pre-sentence report with an assessment of his suitability for home or community detention when he remanded Schwass at large — no bail was required.

Defence counsel Simon Shamy said Schwass was assisting with “other on-going investigations” and a large amount of money may be paid to the Inland Revenue Department before the sentencing.

Mr Shamy said Schwass had previously had interim name suppression but the order lapsed when he pleaded guilty and was not renewed.

Schwass put his Harlequin Public House restaurant and bar in the central city up for sale in 2016. He had established the restaurant in mid-2013 in the restored Ironside House, a large heritage weatherboard house on the corner of Victoria and Salisbury streets.

The two charges he admitted – containing 21 offences — involve aiding and abetting BTS Restaurants Ltd to misapply tax deductions or withholding tax that had to be paid to the Commissioner of Inland Revenue over 21 tax periods from 2015 to 2017.

The company was incorporated in July 2007 with Schwass as the director and shareholder.  It owed about $700,000 when it was placed in voluntary liquidation on May 11, 2017.

At that time it owed $314,757 in taxes for PAYE payments, Kiwisaver, student loans, and child support deductions. Late payments of nearly $50,000 have been made since then and the outstanding balance is $265,689.

Employees will lose $13,870 for unpaid Kiwisaver contributions.

When interviewed, Schwass acknowledged that he was ultimately responsible for the company’s trading activities and finances and was responsible for the company’s PAYE compliance.

He was warned by the tax department by letter and verbally.

When he was interviewed in August, he said the tax money had been used for operational expenses and priority had been given to trade creditors.

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File image. © Andrew Bardwell

Ponzi schemer Paul Clifford Hibbs has gone to jail for eight years for his $17.5 million frauds with victims still wondering if he has assets hidden away.

The prosecution said that after his scheme fell apart, Hibbs did not co-operated with the Serious Fraud Office and the company liquidators’ investigations.

Prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told Hibbs’ Christchurch District Court sentencing session that there was evidence funds were transferred and could not be located or tracked.

He said that behaviour should be used to counter any claim for a sentence reduction for Hibbs’ remorse or good character.

Investigators checked his bank accounts, searched his home, and traced his travel to try to track down where the money went. His travel included visits to Australia, Rarotonga, and Singapore with a stopover in Hong Kong.

The Crown referred to $5 million of the money which could not be traced or accounted for, but that was challenged by the defence.

Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders said that was a question for separate legal action being taken in the High Court. “At the end of the day, that will be for the court process through the High Court and the bankruptcy administration to resolve that.”

The 49-year-old took the money from 22 clients and their families and had known many of them for 20 years. He pleaded guilty last year to 25 representative charges of making false statements by a promoter, nine charges of theft by a person in a special relationship, two charges of forgery, and three charges of using forged documents. The offending took place over eight years.

He operated an investment advisory business called Cameron Gladstone Investments Ltd from 2002, and Hansa Ltd from 2005. Both companies were in liquidation by the time of his guilty pleas.

At the time of his pleas, the SFO reported to the court: “He had complete control over his client funds. Many of his clients are elderly. Some have lost their entire life savings and given their stage in life are not in a position to recover the capital lost. The agreed loss is not less than $17.5 million.”

The names and details of all of his victims have been suppressed.

One of the victims said he and his wife had assets invested with Hansa Ltd. He had known Hibbs for 10 years and said he seemed trustworthy and had a good reputation. His offending had impacted on his financial future.

Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said many of the victims were present in court. He said information from the company liquidator about non-co-operation and the amount of the losses could be considered to counter any issues of Hibbs’ good character or his remorse.

The victim impact statements made for very distressing reading. They were affected financially and emotionally because of the trust they had in Hibbs. Some had had to return to work when they thought they had retired, and some felt they were unable to provide for grandchildren as they had planned.

Some had introduced friends and family to Hibbs, and they went on to become victims. Hibbs had not been offering high returns. The scheme was clever, because everything had been made to look very legitimate, grounded and substantial.

Defence counsel James Rapley questioned the level of the losses. He accepted that people had lost their investments and interest, but some of those losses were “fictitious” earnings reported to the victims under the Ponzi scheme.

Hibbs was aware of the effects of his offending. “Many of these people were friends of his,” Mr Rapley said. “He has hurt people, let them down, abused their trust.”

The probation officer’s pre-sentence report said Hibbs’ remorse was evident at his interview.

He said Hibbs had set up a legitimate investment company, but then faced the prospect of telling investors that there were losses. There had been no lavish lifestyle and he had lived in a modest family home. References described him as being active in the community, and being a loving and caring family man. He was now having a difficult and frightening time in prison on remand.

Judge Saunders said Hibbs had banking industry experience before he set up his investment business in 2002. His Ponzi scheme’s effects on his victims had been devastating, causing them immense suffering and financial ruin. His lies had callously caused grief and affected people’s health.

There was no possibility of meaningful reparations. Hibbs told the probation interviewer that the insolvency lawyers would be sorting out the financial aspects.

He jailed Hibbs for eight years, with a non-parole term of four years before he can be considered for release.

Outside the court after the sentencing, investors said the sentence was “a slap on the wrist” and Hibbs should have got more.

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A 76-year-old woman has begun a home detention sentence while a family member begins paying back more than $20,000 that the woman stole from a Southland forestry trust – a process that will take 13 years.

Police agreed to alter the summary of facts ahead of Elizabeth Rose Bruce’s sentencing in the Christchurch District Court on a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship. She had pleaded guilty.

The summary of facts originally indicated withdrawals at the Christchurch Casino where she was gambling, but an analysis by defence counsel Rachel Wood showed that Bruce had not made any withdrawals at the casino, and her income was more than enough to cover her gambling.

It was accepted that she had taken the trust money to help her daughter who had “significant financial needs”. Police made the point that rather than stealing the funds “for some noble purpose”, Bruce could have curtailed her gambling and used that money to assist the family member.

Miss Wood said Bruce had sent letters of apology to the victims who were the beneficiaries of a Maori Forestry Trust in Southland, which was set up by the Maori Land Court in the 1990s.

Bruce was a trustee of the block of land, but the other trustee died in 2005 leaving her as the sole trustee.

She made transfers and withdrawals from the trust’s bank account in 2006, and that process went on till August 2007. She dipped into the account 46 times, taking a total of $22,245.

When she was finished the trust’s bank account contained just $3.33.

Judge Paul Kellar said it was a considerable amount of money and a gross breach of trust. There had been premeditation.

However, Bruce had expressed remorse and had previously had no convictions at the age of 76. Her motivation seemed to have been to support her daughter.

“Imprisonment is clearly not necessary to achieve sentencing objectives,” said the judge.

He ordered her to serve home detention for four months at a Sydenham address, and ordered full reparations with an immediate payment of $1500 and the rest being paid by her daughter at a rate of $30 a week. The rate will be reviewed in six months, and Judge Kellar said he expected it would be increased.

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Conman Paul Martin Encell has gone to jail saying he has nothing salted away and can pay nothing back to the victims who have lost $750,000. Inland Revenue is not so sure.

Christchurch District Court Judge Tom Gilbert jailed the 52-year-old for five years on 33 fraud charges, but made no order for Encell – who he described as “a classic conman” – to repay the victims.

“You are good at putting over a particular impression of yourself,” said the judge. “That is what has enabled you to offend repeatedly in the way you have.”

IRD senior prosecutor Paul Saunders said the Commissioner of Inland Revenue had been unable to trace $127,535 of the money deposited into Encell’s bank account.

“Essentially that money was withdrawn in cash and the commissioner has no means of addressing where it’s gone,” he said.

“Because the offending involved the use of false identities and he has previously lived overseas, the commissioner considers there is a risk that the money has been essentially salted away, but can provide no evidence to the court that it has happened.”

Over 15 months, when the cash was withdrawn, there were also electronic transactions which covered Encell’s expenditure on travel, accommodation, and food. “The cash wasn’t just for extravagant living – that is already accounted for.”

However, defence counsel Paul Johnson told the court that Encell said he had nothing salted away. He had no cash, and no assets. The $8000 he had in his Kiwisaver account had already been taken by the IRD.

Encell will now serve a five-year jail term and will be deported to Britain when he is released. Judge Gilbert said it would be meaningless to make an order for reparation.

That means victim Barry Jones, 59, will get nothing back after Encell left him $200,000 out of pocket after signing up to manage his “dream house” project. Encell claimed to have a Master Build guarantee and public liability insurance but when his Encell Group was liquidated Mr Jones was devastated to discover the lies.

There was no guarantee and no insurance. The money was gone and the project was only partially complete. Since then, he has struggled with rental accommodation, lived in a caravan with a portaloo and temporary shower, and now is struggling to finish the home. His relationship has broken down and he has now taken a contract to work overseas for two years to try to make up some of the losses.

“This guy’s pretty much ruined my life,” Mr Jones told the sentencing session. He had expected to be retiring to his dream home after working hard all his life, but was struggling, even after selling his collection of vintage cars.

Mr Johnson said Encell’s company had been set up legitimately, but then there had been difficulties, and publicity, and the company had gone into liquidation. He had committed the offences to try to prop up the company. He had tried to live the lifestyle he was used to, and a lot of the money had been spent on alcohol and gambling.

Judge Gilbert said Encell had ruined Mr Jones’ life in committing the frauds totalling $750,000, including losses for IRD and for customers he defrauded with Facebook sales online – at a time when he was already on bail.

He noted that Encell had forged guarantors’ signatures to set up loan agreements and obtain goods worth $170,000 that were never paid for. The forgeries indicated that it was never a legitimate business – “It was always underpinned by fraud,” the judge said.

Encell has two children and two grandchildren in New Zealand, and his deportation would mean he would miss out on seeing them, Mr Johnson said. He had expressed remorse in letters of apology to the victims, and to the court.

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A 40-year-old woman has admitted another alcohol-driving charge, just one year after being sentenced for drink-driving with her two children in her car.

Melanie Susan Trebilco was caught on Rolleston Drive, in Rolleston, about 4.30pm on March 2, driving with 871mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. The limit is 250mcg.

She told police she had been celebrating her birthday by drinking wine with friends.

Today at the Christchurch District Court she was remanded on bail for sentence to April 30.

Community Magistrate Jan Holmes ordered a pre-sentence report for the sentencing, and said the probation service recommended intensive supervision.

She told Trebilco that during her remand she was not to drive a car if she had consumed any alcohol.

Trebilco was sentenced to disqualification from driving for eight months, and a fine of $1000 at her last appearance on January 23, 2017.

She admitted it was “just stupidity” that she was driving with the children, aged 3 and 9, and she refused to let police officers drive her children to the police station in a patrol car without child restraints.

Police said she had been caught driving in an area where many children were leaving Rolleston Primary School and a day-care centre.

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A North New Brighton man smashed into a car containing four doctors when he ran a red light in Dunedin on Christmas Day.

Two of the doctors were knocked unconscious and three received serious concussion in the crash at 3.45pm at the intersection of Stuart and London Streets.

Philip Daryl McPherson, 45, admitted four charges of careless driving causing injury when he appeared before Judge Paul Kellar in the Christchurch District Court. The case had been transferred from Dunedin.

Police said that McPherson went through a red light at London Street as he drove along Stuart Street, crashing into station wagon and causing it to spin into a traffic pole.

The vehicle containing the four doctors was badly damaged.

Apart from the concussions, one doctor had to have surgery to remove glass fragments from his arm, and had injured knee ligaments.

Another had a broken left cheek bone and a gash inside her mouth needing stitches.

The fourth doctor had two broken ribs.

Three of the doctors who suffered concussion were off work for a month and then gradually returned to full time work.

McPherson told police he had not noticed the red traffic lights before driving through the intersection.

Judge Kellar remanded him for sentence on April 27, and asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared, and an assessment of whether a restorative justice meeting between McPherson and the doctors could take place.

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A woman has admitted being part of an organised criminal group accused of burgling 110 homes.

Mere Aroha Morgan, 26, pleaded guilty to four charges of burglary, two thefts of cars, and participating in the criminal group in the Christchurch District Court.

She admitted being in the alleged group of six people who burgled about 110 homes across Christchurch East, Rangiora and Kaiapoi, between June and July 2017.

The police summary of facts said Morgan stayed in a motel unit in Ferry Road during those two months, and police found stolen property worth tens of thousands of dollars in the unit. They recovered property included laptops, cameras, building tools, and clothing.

Police found text communication indicating Morgan was disposing some of the stolen property.

Morgan was caught by CCTV footage with other people who allegedly took a car from the Hagley Park car park on May 27.

On June 28, Morgan and an alleged co-offender entered a motel unit in New Brighton. The shower and toilet were used, as well as towels and the bed. The television, DVD player, a small safe, and bedding were stolen.

On June 30 she was with alleged co-offenders when a property in Lyttelton St was burgled. Cameras and a blue ray home theatre system were taken, then later they burgled a property in Halswell Road where laptops, an Ipad, and PlayStation were taken.

In July, with alleged co-offenders, a property in James Drive, Woodend was burgled, with a 65-inch television, and a PlayStation taken. She sent a text message to an associate saying she had the television for sale on the same day.

The tools stolen from a car that was taken from an address in Rowses Road in Rangiora were found in the motel unit with Morgan.

Morgan told police she didn’t know how the stolen property arrived at the unit.

Judge Raoul Neave remanded Morgan on electronically monitored bail for sentencing on July 18. He ordered a pre-sentence report and a report to assess if she was suitable for a home detention sentence.

Five other members of the alleged group are all going through the Christchurch Court system separately.

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A “safe and cautious” driver’s moment of inattention killed a woman and left four people injured in a head-on smash on the highway near Waikouaiti.

The 33-year-old Christchurch driver, Gary George Fox, momentarily took his eyes off the road to show his passenger where the power button was on a dash-cam.

Judge Tom Gilbert today detailed the carnage that happened in the following seconds when he sentenced Fox in the Christchurch District Court, on a charge of careless driving causing the death of Janis Rosina Byrne, and three charges of careless driving causing injury.

The fourth person injured was Fox himself, who had a fractured chest bone, and broken ankles. He spent seven weeks recovering in hospitals in Dunedin, Ashburton, and Christchurch.

Fox, a supermarket worker, had admitted all the charges and had been remanded for a pre-sentence report and a possible restorative justice meeting with the victim’s family.

Fox was keen for the meeting but it was not able to take place ahead of the sentencing. Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger said she still hoped the meeting could be arranged.

Fox and his family were keen to pay reparations, including the cost of items that would not normally be covered by reparation. She said: “The Fox family have taken the view that it is the least they can do for the Byrne family, so they are not out of pocket for the expenses referred to in the victim impact statement.”

Judge Gilbert said he would not fine Fox because he wanted all the money to go to the Byrne family as reparations, rather than be paid to the government’s consolidated fund.

The accident happened on June 23, 2017, when Fox was driving from Christchurch to a wedding in Dunedin with two friends in the car. The friends had no licences and often travelled with Fox. They described him as a “safe and cautious driver”.

Fox has no driving convictions and no current demerit points. His only driving offence was a speeding infringement when he got a ticket near Geraldine in 2014.

The travellers stopped for lunch in Oamaru and when they resumed, Fox unplugged the dash cam that was recording the trip, to plug his cellphone in to recharge.

The video camera continued on its batteries but south of Waikouaiti, Fox realised it had stopped recording. His passenger then plugged the video camera back in but was struggling to turn it back on.

With the car travelling at about 100km an hour, Fox took his eyes off the road for what the police described as a “fleeting look” to show her where the power button was.

His car drifted left, crossed the rumble strip onto the shoulder of the road where it hit a marker stake, and then swerved back right across the road and head-on into the car driven by Mrs Byrne.

Mrs Byrne, who lived in Karitane, was aged 60 and was in the vehicle with her autistic daughter.

Mrs Byrne died at the scene and her daughter received a fractured hip, cuts and bruises.

Fox’s passengers received cuts, bruises, and broken bones and spent time in hospital.

Mrs Byrne’s husband Graeme has had to give up work to care for the daughter. The victim impact statement said the family was struggling to cope with the loss of the mother, and was under financial strain.

Fox’s injured friends spoke of highly of him and said they bore him no malice. Fox himself was described as “gutted” and devastated by the consequences of his driving error.

Judge Gilbert told him: “You are generally speaking a good driver and this was a nasty accident with horrific consequences as a result of a momentary lapse of attention on your part.”

He disqualified Fox for a year and ordered him to pay $8340 reparations to the Byrne family, plus $10,000 emotional harm reparations.

Fox’s father said in court that he would make the payment immediately, and arrangements would be made for his son to repay the amount over time.

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