Meth addict’s list grows with burglary charge

A young methamphetamine addict awaiting sentencing is in custody after pleading guilty to seven new charges, including for a burglary committed while she was on bail.

Mickayla Elizabeth Panting-Bye, of Pareora, had initially been bailed to May 7 for sentencing when she appeared before Judge Campbell Savage in the Timaru District Court on February 8.

At that hearing, the 20-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to deal methamphetamine/amphetamine, possessing a knife in a public place, breaching the Medicines Act, possessing utensils for using meth and amphetamine, and driving while her licence was suspended.

Those offences were committed last year between November 1 and Christmas Eve.

In court on Tuesday, guilty pleas were added for two charges of burglary, two charges of possessing meth and amphetamine, and charges of driving while suspended and possessing utensils for the use of cannabis, meth and amphetamine.

The first burglary occurred during December 16-18, 2023, when Panting-Bye drove an associate to an address in Otaio in the Waimate District, according to the police summary of facts.

“Her associate entered the complainant’s implement shed/workshop and removed a variety of power tools and tools valued at over $10,000.

“The defendant assisted her associate in loading the items into her motor vehicle prior to leaving.”

The second burglary occurred on February 18 while Panting-Bye was on bail. She went to a Talbot Rd, Beaconsfield, address on the outskirts of Timaru, entered an open shed and took a Black & Decker drill, a red LED work lamp and a set of large bolt cutters.

“The defendant said she decided to enter the shed to see if there was anything worth taking and that the items she took, she felt she could make use of,” the summary said.

Police searched a property on February 21 in The Avenue, Pareora, and recovered items taken from the Otaio property.

“A male subject was interviewed and provided a statement implicating the defendant as the offender.”

Two days later, police executed a search in Abbott St, Pareora, during which Panting-Bye was present.

Police located a small black backpack in her bedroom and inside it was a small container holding two small plastic bags with a white substance.

“When questioned, the defendant said the bag’s contents were hers and the white crystal was methamphetamine.”

Panting-Bye also told police: “I didn’t do the shed; I was only the driver.”

Most of the remaining new charges stemmed from discoveries by police of a “Rick and Morty” branded cannabis bong, 1.73g of meth split into four bags, and a glass meth pipe in a vehicle that Panting-Bye was in the driver’s seat of on October 7 last year.

The charge of driving while suspended related to an incident in Timaru on December 9.

In February, Panting-Bye told police that she supplied meth to supply her addiction and to “get money to survive”.

Panting-Bye, who appeared in court on Tuesday via an audio-visual link from Christchurch Women’s Prison, was remanded in custody to May 7 for sentencing.