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A man who pointed a firearm at a police officer and stole his cruiser told his victim that he thinks about the incident every day.
“Nobody deserves that in their life,” Jesse Daniel Nash, 39, Superior Sheriff Darren Kidd said from the Dunedin District Court dock this afternoon.
“So sorry.”
Snr Const Kidd addressed the court first, reading his victim impact statement, an unusual step for a police officer.
The 12-year-old officer said it was more than his occupation; He was the husband and father of a 2-year-old son.
“Those two people are the reason I put on my uniform and go to work, my only reason to live,” said Snr Const Kidd.
“We were both very lucky that his actions didn’t result in one of us being shot.”
He thanked Nash for his apologies.
Judge Jim Large jailed Nash for five years on 16 counts, representing a crime-ridden month and a half.
Until February, the defendant committed several driving offenses, stole fuel, led the police in a chase and threatened to kill someone if he did not change a statement about the theft of his car.
But the worst was still coming.
On March 14, Nash, who had 13 convictions for driving while prohibited, extracted $ 64 worth of fuel from the Omarama gas station and headed for Central Otago.
The police saw him near Tarras and tried to stop him.
Instead, Nash accelerated to 180 km / h, and the peaks of the road failed to finish the chase.
The defendant, the court heard, continued at high speeds with sparks coming from a wheel, setting several fires on the roads.
The police withdrew but continued the search for the fugitive on several secondary roads.
Snr Const Kidd drove down a pebble road at the beginning of Cromwell Gorge and found Nash and the Toyota.
Rather than turn himself in, the defendant pulled a long-barreled air rifle from the trunk and pointed it “directly at the officer” who was 30 meters away.
The officer took refuge in a group of pine trees.
Nash discarded the firearm and drove off in the police car, which had been stopped.
Too conspicuous in the patrol vehicle, heading toward Alexandra on State Highway 8, the fugitive approached a BMW driven by Graham Robinson and activated its lights.
For added legitimacy, he put on a police cap left in the vehicle by the superior sheriff and ordered the driver to get out.
After questioning Mr. Robinson about the BMW’s gear stick, Nash sped off again, leaving the bewildered motorist on the side of the road along with the abandoned police car.
“It was a bit of an adventure,” the victim said.
With Nash reaching speeds of 200 km / h in SH8, the police refused to participate in a chase, preferring to set spikes on the road.
On the way to Milton, the defendant was attacked.
Nash abandoned the BMW on Park Rd, 270 km from where he stole the fuel in Omarama.
Still, he refused to give up.
The defendant broke into a property that was being remodeled and spent the night there while police searched the area.
At 10:30 a.m. the next day, Nash was finally arrested after approaching strangers and asking them to use his internet to organize an elevator.
Judge Large applauded Mr. Const Kidd, who listened “kindly” to what the defendant had to say today.
He wasn’t sure of Nash’s contrition, but the exchange provided some clarity.
“I think his remorse and apology were genuine,” the judge said.
Nash was banned from driving for 13 months.
Judge Large said it was unrealistic to impose reparation orders.
