The 32-year-old appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday for sentence on a string of charges that charted the defendant’s rapid decline, culminating in him embarking on a tomahawk rampage and spectacularly crashing his father’s car in Mosgiel.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said Howie had found stability after his last appearance in court in 2015.
He had a relationship, a mortgage, an apprenticeship – but a series of crises saw all that crumble.
It began on December 16 last year when Howie went to the home of his ex’s current partner.
Driving a work truck, he rammed a BMW in the driveway, shunting it into a hedge, then he crashed into a fence and knocked over a letterbox as he left the scene.
A couple of months later he breached a protection order by messaging someone he was barred from contacting.
"111," Howie sent. The victim asked for clarification.
"Ur speed dial boi . . . What u gunna do about it," (sic) the defendant added, before unleashing further abuse.
Things came to a head on April 21 while Howie was on bail.
After consuming alcohol, he sent a series of threatening messages to a former colleague.
Unbeknown to him, the victim’s grandmother had died that day.
An hour later Howie drove his dad’s Nissan to the man’s Mosgiel home where he took out a tomahawk and laid into a vehicle outside.
When he was approached by another man who was living at the address he swore at him and waved the axe "in a slashing motion, back and forth", a court summary said.
Howie chased the victim before turning his attention to another vehicle, smashing a window before speeding away.
In Hazlett Rd he failed to give way at the intersection with Dukes Rd North and slammed the vehicle into a wire fence, writing it off in the process.
Judge David Robinson said while Howie had kept his nose clean in recent years, he had an extensive criminal history.
"It does tell me you’re someone capable of very significant violence indeed," he said.
Howie’s life "spiraled out of control", the judge said, though the reasons for the meltdown were not aired in court.
The court heard the defendant had now lost his plumbing apprenticeship and his heavy-vehicle licence.
Howie was jailed for 14 months, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay more than $11,000 in reparation.
Because of the time he spent on remand, he will be released shortly.
