Jail for 501 after Porsche 911 stolen from Parnell home before Waikato Expressway police pursuit

On Thursday, Neilson learned his fate before Judge Kirsten Lummis in the Auckland District Court.

She sentenced the 33-year-old to two years and three months in jail for a dozen crimes committed over more than a year, including two of burglary and two of using or attempting to use a bank card as a result of the Parnell incident.

While Neilson wasn’t in the driver’s seat of the Porsche, he’d used a $50,000 Land Rover Discovery stolen from the same Parnell property to crash through a security gate, after which Sifa drove out in the Porsche, the court heard.

The hours-long crime spree began about 2am when Neilson and “an unknown number of accomplices” climbed a fence and then used a ladder to get into the home’s upstairs office as the occupants slept, Judge Lummis said.

After taking an American Express bank card and using it twice – once unsuccessfully – spending $52 at a petrol station, Neilson and others returned to the Parnell home about 4am and took keys for the Porsche and Land Rover.

“You drove [the Land Rover] at the security gate, smashing it from its hinges.”

Almost six hours later, Neilson was arrested in the passenger seat of the Porsche after the police pursuit, she said.

The 501’s offending was serious because it’d targeted a home where people were sleeping, was “clearly pre-meditated”, and high-value vehicles were stolen.

It was “really concerning” the victim was too afraid to do a victim impact statement, Judge Lummis said.

“It tells me they are still really scared of what people out there are capable of doing. I have no doubt that what happened will continue to play on their mind for years to come.”

Judge Lummis also sentenced Neilson for eight other crimes committed following the Parnell incident, when he was on bail before being remanded in custody after his most recent offending in August last year.

Two prison sentences of five months, to be served concurrently with his jail sentence of two years and three months, and a year-long driving disqualification were imposed for the crimes – dangerous driving, failing to remain stopped for police, refusing to give blood, unlawfully taking a vehicle, possession of methamphetamine, breach of bail and two of receiving.

Because Neilson had been in custody since August 24 he could be eligible for parole in May, when he’ll have served a third of his sentence.

The pre-sentence report showed there’d been “something of a turnaround” while Neilson was in custody, Judge Lummis said.

“You’ve said it’s something of a blessing in disguise, giving you that opportunity to reflect … and really get off all the substances and drugs that have been causing you so much trouble in recent years.”

Neilson was working with addiction services to make a plan for staying off methamphetamine once he left prison, because “you recognise that is where the fall comes”.

He’d also shown responsibility by taking on a cleaning role in jail, among rehabilitative factors that earned him earlier discounts in jail time along with his guilty plea, remorse and the impact of being deported from Australia, she said.

“It’ll be up to you as to how you continue to behave while you’re in prison, and the work you continue to do yourself as to whether or not you’re able to get parole at that first opportunity.

“But I’d encourage you to … continue to do what you can do to make sure we don’t meet again.”

Neilson was kicked out of Australia for committing a “serious bodily harm” crime, and Judge Lummis said she could “understand your frustration [with the deportation], given you consider yourself Australian”.

But the judge also noted Neilson has a daughter, and family “who spoke highly of him”, to motivate him.

Among those in court on Thursday was Neilson’s mother, who sat quietly in the back as her son was sent to jail.

“See you mum, love you mum”, Neilson called, as guards led him from the dock to begin his sentence.

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.

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