Another light sentence

Stuff reports:

An 18-year-old woman, who had been trespassed from a Ministry of Social Development office, slipped into the building and assaulted a staff member so violently that she broke her hip and wrist.

Latia Tipa-McQueen assaulted the staffer at Work and Income New Zealand’s Sydenham branch in Christchurch on July 30.

Tipa-McQueen had previously been trespassed from the office but “ghosted” in with a staff member and then forced her way through a door and past security. When a woman staffer recognised her and confronted her about the trespass, Tipa-McQueen charged her and pushed her over before kicking her three times.

On Wednesday, the Christchurch District Court was told the 64-year-old victim’s injuries were severe and recovery would be slow. The woman had sustained a broken hip and wrist, and extensive bruising.

So this 18 year old thug broke a trespass order, made her way into a WINZ office and beat up a 64 year old so badly she broke her wrist and hip.

In her victim impact statement, the woman told of being unable to walk without a walking frame or crutches, and having to have her house modified because of her mobility problems, after previously regularly walking, cycling, and enjoying social outings with friends.

She may never fully recover.

Tipa-McQueen had earlier admitted a charge of intentionally injuring the woman, as well as charges of threatening and assaulting staff at a bank branch when she was refused a debit card because she did not have enough money.

The bank staff had not been seriously injured, but were left shaken and remained “unsettled” when out in public because of threats Tipa-McQueen made to have members of two gangs deal with them.

Tipa-McQueen had also been convicted for failing to come to court while she was on bail. She was on bail at the time of the Work and Income assault.

So she has also assaulted bank staff, threatened people with gangs, has failed to turn up to court and broken bail conditions at least twice.

Tipa-McQueen explained that she did want treatment, but she did not want rehabilitation in a group setting “where I am forced and pressured into admitting I have got a problem”.

Judge Quentin Hix said Tipa-McQueen’s offending warranted a jail term of 47 months, but reduced it for her guilty pleas, her youth, and for personal factors, to an end-sentence of 18 months.

Judge Hix granted leave for Tipa-McQueen to apply for home detention during her jail sentence if an arrangement became available for a good rehabilitation plan, either with support from an alcohol and drug rehabilitation organisation, or at a residential programme.

And she gets home detention!!