NEW ZEALAND: Drink-driver causes $50k worth of damage after stealing police car
By Mariné Lourens
November 3 2020
A 42-year-old woman caused approximately $50,000 worth of damage when she stole a police car while under the influence of alcohol, drove erratically at speed through Christchurch streets and crashed into three parked vehicles.
Rebecca Leonie Gerrard was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday for her drunken antics, which her lawyer described as a “spectacular fall from grace”.
She was convicted of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, driving dangerously, driving with excess blood alcohol and escaping from police custody.
Police received reports from concerned members of the public on August 8 last year, after Gerrard was noticed struggling to reverse out of a driveway on Wainoni Rd in Avondale.
When police arrived, she refused to take a breath screening test and was placed in the back-seat of a police patrol vehicle.
As the police officer walked around the car to the driver’s door, Gerrard climbed into the front of the vehicle and locked the doors. The officer attempted to break a window, but Gerrard drove off at speed.
She drove up to 100kmh in a 50kmh speed zone with the patrol vehicle’s lights flashing.
At an intersection Gerrard failed to take the bend and the car became airborne as it hit a roundabout. Shortly after, she crashed into three vehicles that were parked by the side of the road.
A blood test later showed Gerrard’s blood alcohol level was 212mg per 100ml of blood at the time. The legal limit is 80mg.
It was not her first brush with the law. In 2018, she was convicted for driving under the influence, and in 2006 was charged for refusing to provide police with a blood sample.
Judge John Brandts-Giesen sentenced Gerrard to six months’ home detention and 12 months’ intensive supervision. She was disqualified from driving for six months after which she’ll be able to apply for an alcohol-interlock licence.
Gerrard was also ordered to pay reparation of $1650 in total to the owners of the three vehicles she crashed into, as well as $500 reparation to the police.
Judge Brandts-Giesen reprimanded Gerrard, saying it was “pure luck” that someone had not been killed.
“You are the mother of four children … and you’ve been an appalling example to them.
“Those of us who are parents have to behave ourselves, not just because the law requires it, but also to be the best example that we can to our children.
“The trouble is, if they end up visiting you in prison, you know very well that in your old age you’ll end up visiting them in prison. That is what the cycle of bad examples and [substance] abuse does.”
He ordered Gerrard to complete any drug and alcohol treatment programme as directed by her probation officer.