Meth mum threw bottle at police during pursuit
‘Very dangerous’ act one aspect in slew of charges
Disqualified driver Libby Ker blamed her poor road user habits on her use of methamphetamine.
Last year she was the passenger in a vehicle being driven so badly by a person she claimed was her boyfriend that it endangered the public as the police tried to intervene, and was stopped only when it ran out of petrol.
The 21-year-old mother, who has what her lawyer described as a history of substance abuse, was convicted in the Nelson District Court last December on charges including failing to stop, driving while disqualified, driving dangerously and aiding another offender in driving dangerously after a high-speed drive through Motueka on the afternoon of October 4 last year.
It followed an incident in July last year when her actions led to the charges of failing to stop for the police, driving while disqualified and driving dangerously.
On Tuesday she was sentenced on all matters to nine months’ supervision, 80 hours’ community work, disqualified from driving for another 12 months and an order was made for the confiscation of the vehicle she told her lawyer had “gone to the wreckers”.
Police said records showed she was still the vehicle’s registered owner.
Ker, who was on a restricted licence, was disqualified from driving for a year in August 2022 after she was convicted of aggravated failing to stop for police.
About 8pm on July 3 last year she drove off at speed from a fast-food outlet in Richmond when she saw the police had done a U-turn after they spotted her waiting in the drive-through lane.
Ker “immediately accelerated heavily” and started overtaking vehicles by driving along the central median strip towards oncoming traffic in lower Richmond.
The police followed and activated their lights and siren but Ker continued at speed, overtaking vehicles and driving on the wrong side of the road for a short time in a bid to avoid being caught.
As she approached a busy intersection she briefly switched off her driving lights and then braked hard in a failed attempt to have the following police car smash into the back of her car.
Ker then carried on and the police abandoned the pursuit. Once she was found and arrested, Ker told the police someone had been “test driving her vehicle”.
Three months later Ker again caught the attention of the police. On the afternoon of October 4, she was the front passenger in a white Subaru driven by her boyfriend, with no registration plates, being driven on the Moutere Highway towards Motueka.
They passed a police patrol unit parked on the roadside then sped up once they knew they had been seen.
The officer activated the patrol vehicle’s lights and siren but the Subaru driver accelerated and crossed into the wrong lane on a right-hand bend, at which point the police abandoned the pursuit.
The Subaru continued at speed towards Motueka, where it was seen by police being driven erratically in a 50km/h residential area.
The driver tried to avoid the police with “dangerous manoeuvres” and again, the police did not engage or try to stop the vehicle.
At one stage Ker threw a large water bottle at a police vehicle that was approaching, hitting it, as the two vehicles passed.
The chase carried on through Motueka, stopping only when the Subaru ran out of fuel. When asked by police why she threw the bottle, Ker said she “just felt like it”.
Ker’s lawyer Josh Friend said substance abuse, along with the influence of her partner, had been influential factors in the offending.
Friend said Ker’s offending last July was driven by an ultimatum from him that if she were to pull over for the police, he would say the methamphetamine he had in the car was hers.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Daryl Fenemor said it seemed she was blaming a lot on others when her actions had amounted to “very dangerous behaviour” that had put the public at risk.