Woman guilty of assaulting cop after chase

An Oamaru woman involved in a level 3 lockdown police chase, during which blocks of wood and a meth pipe were hurled at a police car, has been found guilty of assaulting an officer.

Nikita Sherborne-Munro, 29, was found guilty of the charge on Tuesday.

She appeared before Judge David Robinson at the Timaru District Court in September, having pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a police officer.

The charge relates to an incident which occurred on May 3, 2020 near Oamaru.

Sherborne-Munro was the passenger in a vehicle driven by Oamaru man Joshua John Chellew.

In June, Chellew, 33, was sentenced to one year home detention with special conditions, disqualified from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay $3000 reparation after admitting charges of assault with a weapon, endangering transport, aggravated injury, intentional damage and failing to stop which arose from the incident.

Chellew was convicted in the hit-andrun death of a 14-year-old girl in Oamaru in 2018.

During her trial in September, the court heard Sherborne-Munro was charged with assaulting a police officer after an extensive police chase, during which Chellew drove down rural roads near Oamaru at speeds of up to 130kmh.

During the chase, the pair hurled projectiles at the police car including blocks of wood, cans of alcohol, and a glass methamphetamine pipe. The vehicle eventually stopped near Dansey’s Pass.

Constable Neil Rushton told the court that once the vehicle stopped, he and Sergeant Tony Woodbridge approached it, and he smashed the passenger seat window with his baton while Woodbridge attempted to do the same on the driver’s side.

Rushton said he pulled SherborneMunro out of the vehicle through the window by her shoulders and attempted to get her sat up against the car, so he could arrest her.

He said Sherborne-Munro kicked out at him, dislocating one of his fingers.

Sherborne-Munro will be sentenced on December 16.