Tyler McPherson, 20, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on 15 charges following a crime spree which repeatedly flouted road rules and bail restrictions.
It reached its climax on May 9 after the defendant had threatened people in the city centre with a screwdriver, then hid on the veranda of an apartment, sparking a stand-off with police.
Earlier, on April 19 last year, McPherson was driving a Nissan, with several passengers, in Andersons Bay Rd at 100kmh.
When police tried to pull him over, he initially slowed, then accelerated away, travelling the wrong way around a roundabout in Victoria Rd.
McPherson was seen running two red lights in Hillside Rd at 80kmh after police had pulled back due to safety concerns.
He was arrested at his home four days later and charged with dangerous driving and failing to stop.
But the prosecution did not deter him.
Just days after appearing in court, McPherson stole a Mazda Demio from outside a mechanic’s workshop in Ward St and began a joyride with his three passengers.
He was caught on CCTV driving the wrong way down a one-way street, mounting a kerb and entering a pedestrian-only road works zone.
After parking in town, McPherson challenged some men to a fight, then followed them, barging into the back of one before pulling out a screwdriver.
"Give us ... your phone, everything in your pockets and on your wrists," he demanded.
But he fled after a member of the public informed him his actions were being caught on camera.
Moments later though, McPherson approached revellers outside an Octagon bar, demanding an alcoholic drink.
When the victim refused, he threatened to "shank" him in the neck with the screwdriver.
The man described McPherson, whose face was covered, as "very menacing" and said he had never before felt so "threatened, scared or vulnerable".
As police arrived in the Octagon, the court heard McPherson dashed off to Bath St, throwing his jacket and hat to the ground and scaling the wall of a business to a second-floor apartment.
Officers surrounded the building and eventually the defendant emerged from his hiding place and came down.
He gave a breath-alcohol reading of nearly three times the legal limit.
In the stolen car, police found a loaded cut-down air rifle and a thick piece of rope with a metal implement attached to one end.
McPherson claimed his mates were the instigators and that he had been forced to participate "at gunpoint".
But it was all a lie.
Despite his growing list of offences, he was bailed again on the condition he did not drive.
CCTV from the forecourt of an Andersons Bay service station captured him breaching that — and driving while disqualified — six times in a fortnight.
"You’ve shown a complete disregard for the disqualification ... and the safety of the public has been placed at risk," Judge Mark Callaghan said.
McPherson was disqualified from driving until the start of 2027.
Matariki Ephepara Rameka Calvert, 20, was also sentenced to nine months’ supervision and 40 hours’ community work on charges of unlawfully getting into a vehicle and possessing a weapon in relation to the May 9 incident.
