A Balclutha man with 70 prior convictions for dishonesty has been jailed for two years for "cold, calculated and callous'' offending against his mother.
In June last year, Gareth Thomson (35), fraudulently changed the ownership of his mother's 2011 Kia Cerrato car to his name so he could use the car as collateral for a loan.
A month later, he forged a letter in his mother's name, confirming the ownership change, sent a copy of his mother's driver's licence to Avanti Finance and impersonated her when the company telephoned to further confirm the transfer.
The company approved a loan of $16,000 to the defendant.
But Thomson could not maintain his payments when anticipated employment did not happen and the loan went into default.
The first his mother knew about what had happened was when a repossession agent arrived to claim the car last December. She had to pay $4306.75 to stop it being taken.
Thomson was sentenced in the Dunedin District Court yesterday by Judge Stephen Coyle, who said the defendant's dishonesty had involved ongoing and repetitive deception of the finance company in providing misleading information through the falsified letter and the phone call when he pretended to be his mother.
"It was cold and calculated offending - and callous, in that it was offending against your mother,'' the judge said.
Thomson was also described by Judge Coyle as "a recidivist drink-driver'', being for sentence on his sixth drink-driving conviction.
He was caught driving on April 19 with a breath-alcohol level of 809mcg and had prior convictions in 2010 (610mcg), 2008 (two convictions with levels of 856mcg and 824), 2003 (652mcg), and 1998 when he was over the youth limit.
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner said Thomson had believed he could service the loan but went about getting it in a dishonest way. He felt very ashamed when he defaulted on the loan but did not tell his mother what he had done.
He had since apologised at a restorative justice conference. He had found the meeting very confrontational, Ms Saunderson-Warner said. But it had been positive in that his mother and other family members were able to tell him how they felt and how he had hurt them.
Although Thomson had 70 prior convictions for dishonesty, the last was in 2008, counsel said. The defendant felt disappointed to have slipped back into such offending. He had made some positive changes in his life since the birth of his son.
He accepted he was going to jail but wanted to pay reparation to his mother once he was released. Given the premeditation, the breach of trust and that the offending was against his mother - "something that clearly galls her'' - Thomson was sentenced to 18 months' jail on the charge of obtaining the $16,000 loan by deception. He was also ordered to pay $4306.75 reparation to his mother.
An extra six months' jail was added for the drink-driving conviction on which Thomson was also disqualified for 18 months and will be subject to the zero alcohol licence provisions.
For driving while forbidden, he was convicted and discharged.
