Two teenage males have been jailed for a spree of offending around rural Otago last August and a teenage girl whose role was to drive her two co-offenders was sentenced to community detention and community work.
Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said the offenders had clearly been involved in what could only be described as "a crime spree" in Oamaru, Hampden, Mosgiel, Waihola, Milton, Lawrence and Balclutha between August 14 and 26 last year.
He said 19-year-olds Matthew Dean Shea, unemployed, and Aaron Robert Smaill, freezing worker, and Amber Michelle Fleming (17), unemployed, should be "thoroughly ashamed" of themselves for what they had done.
The three were for sentence in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier admitting a series of burglaries, arsons and property and vehicle-related thefts.
They would drive to an area and randomly select vehicles and property to target.
One of them would drive the vehicle stolen from the scene before selected car parts were stripped and any property stolen.
Vehicles would be set on fire to eliminate any evidence.
The offenders' roles had varied but there had been "a significant amount of pre-meditation in the offending", Judge O'Driscoll said.
The loss to the victims totalled $7000.
Crown counsel Louise Denton said Smaill had just completed a term of community detention for other burglaries when he became involved in the crime spree and home detention was not recommended for him.
Shea was also for sentence on unrelated earlier charges of community work breaches and for unlawfully possessing a knife and threatening an aunt while on bail for the major offences, so his sentencing options were limited, Ms Denton said.
He had been in custody on remand.
It was accepted Fleming had been "more of a follower" and had no previous convictions, so probably warranted a lesser penalty.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said Smaill had pleaded guilty very early, had been on bail with a curfew for several months and was working again at the freezing works.
Although known to be easily led, he was now in a different lifestyle from the time of the offences and an electronically-monitored sentence would keep him from further offending.
Alcohol had clearly been a factor and the impetus for the spree had come from Shea, who had various vehicle keys.
Fleming was seen at low risk of re-offending, Ms Saunderson-Warner said, submitting the recommended sentence of community detention and community work should be imposed.
For Shea, counsel Brian Kilkelly said it was accepted a jail term starting at two to two and a-half years, with a possible increase for the unrelated domestic matters, would be appropriate.
At the age of 19, Shea had some positive attributes and was making an effort to start healing the wounds he had caused his family.
The primary factor in the two weeks of offending had been immaturity and getting caught up in a "mob" mentality.
It had been a case of young people "feeding off each other", Mr Kilkelly said.
Shea did not see himself as the instigator but alcohol has exacerbated his lack of thought processes.
Judge O'Driscoll said the offending got "completely and utterly out of control".
None of the three gave any thought to the victims and little or no thought to the consequences of their actions.
Taking a two and a-half year starting point for Shea, the judge added nine months for the knife and threatening charges but deducted 10 months to take into account Shea's age, his guilty plea and the fact he had not been to prison before.
On the arson, burglary and threatening to kill charges, Shea was sentenced to two years and nine months' jail, with two years on the indictably-laid thefts, 12 months on the knife possession, nine months for unlawful taking and two months on summary charges of theft and breaching community work, all terms to be concurrent.
He was also ordered to pay $2296.33 reparation.
An aggravating factor for Smaill was his previous convictions for burglary and that he had only just been released from community detention when the offending began, the judge said.
The pre-sentence report said he showed little indication of remorse or victim empathy.
Increasing the two and a-half year starting point by three months, the judge deducted 10 months for Smaill's early guilty pleas but declined to give him the option of an electronically-monitored sentence.
It would be inappropriate to impose such a sentence again on repeat similar offending, he said.
Smaill was sentenced to 23 months' prison on the burglary and arson charges, 12 months on the thefts and unlawful takings and two months on several other thefts, all terms to be concurrent.
He was ordered to pay $1696.33 reparation and, as a special condition of his release, is to have counselling and treatment and attend any programmes as directed.
Fleming's culpability was less only because her involvement had been in driving, the judge said.
On each charge he sentenced her to concurrent terms of five months' community detention, with a daily 8pm to 7am curfew, 250 hours' community work and ordered her to pay $1507.83 reparation.
