Black Power member sentenced

A Dannevirke Black Power member will be confined to his house for almost a year, and off the road for almost three, after leading police on two pursuits and for his involvement in a crash.

Ethyn Mogford could have been disqualified from driving for much longer when he was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Monday, were it not for Judge Stephanie Edwards deciding it would be out of proportion with his crimes.

The 27-year-old was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention and 280 hours’ community work for a large number of offences in relation to his behaviour on April 20, May 4 and May 19.

In April, he fled police when they tried to pull him over on Napier Rd, Palmerston North. He drove faster than 160kmh and only stopped after having his tyres spiked.

Police found a sawn-off shotgun, knife, a spiked piece of wood, and a methamphetamine pipe in his car.

He was caught driving while suspended in early May after a truck crashed into his car in Dannevirke.

Later that month, he again fled police, reaching speeds of 140kmh and dodging spikes police laid on the road. The pursuit only ended when he collided with a car being driven by a 17-year-old at the intersection of Stoney Creek and Kelvin Grove roads.

Defence lawyer Tony Thackery said Mogford was the only member of Black Power in the town, and had worked hard enough as a painter to buy a house there.

Many of the charges Mogford had pleaded guilty to usually required judges to impose a mandatory driving disqualification, with all those disqualifications adding up.

The judge said that approach would have ended with Mogford being disqualified from driving for about three years and six months.

She lowered the disqualification to two years and nine months.