Gangster-like rampage

A couple involved in a series of car chases and thefts in Christchurch, carried out a pathetic imitation of infamous 1930s gangsters Bonnie and Clyde, a judge says.

Mykayla Brooke Turnbull, 23, and her boyfriend Robert Weater McDonald, 36, went on a crazy crime spree which involved high speed chases, driving dangerously at police cars, petrol drive-offs and throwing bottles and chains out of cars.

McDonald was jailed in April for his part, and Turnbull appeared in the district court on Tuesday.

Judge Robert Murfitt sentenced to her to 100 hours community work, and ordered to pay ordered reparations to four petrol stations, in Papanui and Cashmere, where she had stolen fuel.

Judge Murfitt took into account she had spent seven weeks in custody.

"The car chases and your behaviour was something of a pathetic imitation of Bonnie and Clyde but there were far worse consequences for them than what they are for you.

"Everything you do, a good thing or bad thing, has repercussions,'' he said.

Turnbull was the passenger in a stolen car McDonald was driving which damaged five police cars, fences, and a power pole, causing $15,884 worth of damage.

Police detailed a series of chases with speeds up to 120km/h, between December 4 and 6 last year.

At times the vehicle would travel on the footpath or the wrong side of the road, sometimes with the headlights off and police vehicles were rammed.

Judge Murfitt said this followed a short-term crime spree in November when Turnbull stole petrol, was unlawfully taking cars and assaulted a police officer.

Turnbull was sentenced on three charges of unlawfully getting into a car, four charges of theft of petrol, assaulting a police officer with a blunt instrument and trying to use a stolen cheque.

Defence Counsel Paul Norcross said Turnbull had no previous convictions and her offending was the result of abuse of alcohol and drugs and a poor choice of boyfriend.

Judge Murfitt said the offending lasted a month while she was involved in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend who led her into a destructive lifestyle of methamphetamine and prostitution to support their habit.

He said McDonald used Turnbull.

Said Judge Murfitt: "Some of the community work hours could be converted to work training. I hope you can now lead a crime-free, much more productive and enjoyable life.''

In April, McDonald was sentenced to 20 months prison and disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years.

He had admitted charges of reckless driving, failing to stop for the police, assaulting a constable using a car as a weapon, theft of a car, two of driving while disqualified and breach of a community work sentence.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were notorious criminals who went on a two-year crime spree in the US during the Great Depression, killing people, kidnapping policemen and stealing while they were on the run.

They were both killed in a roadside ambush by six police officers on May 23, 1934.