Woman loses licence after threats
A Blenheim teenager who assaulted a former friend for sleeping with her boyfriend has lost her licence after using her car during the offending.
Stacey Marzola, 19, slapped her friend across the face when she learnt the woman had slept with her boyfriend, and kicked her out of her car last month.
Later that day, Marzola drove two friends to Simonsen Reserve, near Blenheim, where they threatened the woman and smashed the back window of the car she was in.
Marzola admitted assault, wilful damage and intimidating behaviour and was sentenced at the Blenheim District Court on Monday.
Judge Richard Russell said that because Marzola used her car to take her friends to the reserve where they threatened the woman, the car could be confiscated for use in a criminal activity.
But Marzola’s lawyer Kent Arnott said she relied heavily on her car as a single mother.
She was ‘‘embarrassed and ashamed’’ and regretted her behaviour, he said.
‘‘She found out her friend had betrayed her trust ... and her emotions got the better of her.
‘‘A short amount of time later she started to think about what she had done and the effect of what she’d done and that’s when the reality set in.’’
She was already paying off outstanding fines and preferred community detention to a fine, Arnott said.
Judge Russell said he could understand Marzola’s reaction to the news about her boyfriend, but her behaviour was inexcusable.
‘‘You frightened the living daylights out of the three victims in the car, two of which were completely innocent.’’
He sentenced Marzola to three months’ community detention, with a curfew between 8pm and 6.30am, and nine months’ supervision and directed her to undergo counselling as directed by probation.
Marzola was also disqualified from driving for three months, and ordered to pay $220.80, a third of the reparation for the smashed car window.
Her co-offenders would pay the rest.
The women had admitted charges of threatening behaviour and wilful damage, and would be sentenced on September 25.