Taser beats scissors during arrest
"The defendant's one-year-old daughter was in the front seat sitting in a booster seat."
Summary of facts
Pepper spray didn’t stop a woman who threatened police officers with a pair of scissors and it wasn’t until they pointed a taser at her that she gave herself up for arrest.
On Friday, Jody Rita Cuff, 34, was sentenced for aggravated assault and theft in the Hawera District Court for the August 16 incident, along with a number of other charges including petrol drive-offs, shoplifting and careless driving.
She had been trespassed from Pak’n’Save Whanganui in April 2017 but went to the store in August where she started hiding meat and other objects in her clothes and in her bag, the court summary of facts said.
She then bought a loaf of bread and a drink at the self-service checkout without buying the other items. Upon being challenged by store security Cuff and a man drove off. They were later found by a police patrol who told her she was under arrest for shop lifting.
Cuff refused to get out of the car and when one of the police officers grabbed her arm, she started kicking him as the man grabbed her other arm to stop her being pulled out.
The officer lost his grip and stepped back and when he went to step towards the car again Cuff grabbed a pair scissors and threatened him with them.
Police then pepper sprayed her, but she still wouldn’t get out of the car and it took them pointing a taser at her to get her to comply.
Cuff had earlier shop-lifted items from Countdown Hawera in July, when she put items in her handbag before walking out without paying.
On Tuesday Cuff was also sentenced for 10 petrol drive-offs she and her partner Quentin Samuel Laupama, 32, had committed between March and July which ranged from $10.13 to $71.11 worth of petrol.
The petrol stations they targeted ranged from Z Inglewood to BP Whanganui and each time one would get out and pump the petrol into the car while the other waited in the drivers seat, before they would get back in the car and drive off without paying.
They used multiple cars which changed over time as well, and Laupama had earlier been sentenced to 100 hours community work for his part in the offending.
The careless driving charge came after an accident involving her one-year-old daughter, who was sitting on the front seat.
On April 30, she was driving north on State Highway 3 near Waitotara when she went around a corner and lost control on the wet road.
The car spun multiple times before crossing on to the other side of the road and hitting a large bank.
‘‘The defendant’s one-year-old daughter was in the front seat sitting in a booster seat,’’ the summary said.
‘‘This child was not restrained in an approved car seat for her age and was only held in by an adult’s seat belt.’’
A breath test showed Cuff had a breath alcohol reading of 355mg, more than 100mg higher than the legal limit of 250mcg for drivers over 20.
The summary said Cuff was also breaching her learners license by not having a supervisor with her but while the car was moderately damaged, no one was injured in the crash.
Defence lawyer Rajan Rai said Cuff had written a letter of apology to police and was also undertaking counselling for her behaviour.
Judge Chris Sygrove sentenced her to a total of three-and-a-half months home detention and 100 hours community work. He also ordered her to pay reparation for the petrol theft and the shoplifting.