In the lead-up to the pursuit, the 42-year-old had undertaken a three-month stealing spree which saw him break into cars and make off with whatever he could find, including a $5500 Louis Vuitton handbag.
But this all came to an end when he was caught by police in his desperate bid to escape.
Parkinson appeared at the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday where he was given a “second chance” by Judge John Brandts-Giesen, who sentenced him to 12 months of home detention.
Parkinson was in court on a lengthy list of charges which included stealing vehicles, theft, possession of methamphetamine and cannabis, unlawfully interfering with a motor vehicle, unlawfully being in an enclosed yard and escaping from police custody.
According to the summary of facts, Parkinson entered various residential addresses and broke into eight cars from March to May this year.
The items Parkinson took from the vehicles ranged from wallets, credit cards, perfume, laptops and handbags to a driver’s licence, a passport and a garage door opener, totalling more than $13,000.
But the dishonesty crimes didn’t stop there. Parkinson went on to use the credit cards he had pinched - with 25 transactions being made on one alone and more than $14,000 being racked up on the cards in total.
On April 15, police searched Parkinson’s property and found a 20cm fold-out hunting knife, cannabis and methamphetamine.
While later on bail for his raft of offending, Police paid another visit to Parkinson’s home to arrest him for breaching his electronically-monitored conditions.
But he ran into the house, shutting the front door on officers before heading out another exit and jumping over the back fence to escape.
He continued to jump multiple fences and ran through a woman’s house telling her “don’t call police, I’m in trouble,” before jumping another fence.
The court heard that Parkinson then jumped off a roof, fracturing both his ankles when he landed. He was arrested and police found methamphetamine in his pocket, which he denied was his.
Parkinson’s lawyer, Jessica Campbell, said she went to visit him in hospital after the incident, describing it as “a very sorry sight”.
Campbell said Parkinson would get the support he needs from being in the community as opposed to prison, where he was currently remanded and finding difficult due to his injuries.
“There’s limited risk of him fleeing from police in the future.”
Judge Brandts-Giesen said Parkinson’s drug addiction was clearly the driver of his criminal offending.
The number of offences he had committed was “enormous”, the judge said, adding it had been a while since he had seen so many attributed to one offender.
However, he acknowledged Parkinson had a “serious” addiction issue that wasn’t going to be addressed while in prison, and that he was able to attend a residential facility next month.
“Mr Parkinson knows very well this is his last opportunity to get rehabilitation in the community ... this is going to be your last chance to get your act together as far as rehabilitation is concerned.”
- By Emily Moorhouse
- Open Justice multimedia journalist, Christchurch
