A judge says he understands why a recidivist offender in Oamaru fills himself up with drugs after hearing of the man’s traumatic past.
At the Oamaru District Court this week, Judge Campbell Savage sentenced Corey Reopo Douglas, 34, to two years’ and four months’ imprisonment after he was convicted of 14 crimes.
Douglas racked up seven dishonesty charges, three property damage charges, two driving charges, threatening to kill and escaping custody.
Judge Savage said he had "certainly bumped and scraped a few people along the way" but empathised with the man’s traumatic background.
"It’s impossible not to be moved by what has gone in your life ... I don’t mean this lightly ... I understand why you’ve filled yourself with drugs over the years," he said.
On November 15, 2021, the man told police his car had hit a pothole, rolled and crashed on Hildethorpe-Pukeuri Rd in Oamaru.
He stated his prescribed medication had been collateral damage in the accident.
Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant often prescribed for ADHD and Epilim, an anticonvulsant, were reportedly lost.
Two months later, Douglas presented this false story to his doctor and received another script for the medications.
After almost a year of sporadic offending, on September 23 last year, the man was in Dunedin and he was on a mission to get home to Oamaru by any means necessary.
At 12.10pm, he was walking along Castle St when he spotted a bike worth $1000 in a carport.
He rode it to a Willis St address where he found a car with the keys inside.
Ditching the bike, Douglas drove down Cumberland St where he collided with a van at a red light.
The collision caused the van to crash into the vehicle in front, causing moderate damage to both.
Douglas sped away, overtaking multiple vehicles, mounting a traffic island and hitting a third car, causing minor panel damage.
On State Highway 1, the man continued driving dangerously before crashing the vehicle in Pigeon Flat Rd.
From there, he hitch-hiked back to Oamaru.
In the same month, after attempting to steal meat from New World, the man threatened to kill a supermarket employee.
"I will cut your throat from ear to ear," he said.
"The only way your grandchildren will know you, will be by what’s written on your headstone."
The man had been in custody for over a year and hoped to be paroled to a residential treatment programme as soon as possible.
Due to time served, Douglas would be released from jail over the next couple of months and Judge Savage wished him well for his future.
"You are a still a young man ... You could derive a lot of satisfaction from the rest of your life. That’s what I want to see and that’s what everyone that cares about you wants to see too ... You are worth the community investing in."
