Anna Leask: NZ Herald senior reporter on Sevu Reece avoiding conviction for wilful damage in Christchurch

Details of the criminal charges against All Black winger Sevu Reece have emerged - ending today in a discharge without conviction.

The 27-year-old initially pleaded not guilty to taking a car 'dishonestly and without claim' and intentionally damaging a property.

But he's admitted a reduced charge of wilful damage - and lost name suppression today.

Herald crime reporter Anna Leask says it took place after a post-Christchurch Cup Day party last year.

"He was getting a bit disruptive and he was asked to leave - and then next minute, he was sort of behind the wheel of a car and he drove it into a garage. And then he sort of took off on foot."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All Black and Crusaders players. Sevu Reese has been named
as the sports star who admitted to a charge of
wilful damage driving a car into a garage at a
Cup Day party in christ Church. He was granted a
discharge without conviction when he appeared for sentencing this morning.
Apologizing outside court, Cevu said he wants people to learn
from his mistakes. People could learn from some of the

(00:21):
things that we took it from today in court and
from some of my actions. So yeah, I think it
was it was a great idea to take an aim
suppression off and face it. New Zealand Herald reporter Anna
Leask has been in court for us today and she's
with us now Keilder and at let's just go back
to the incident itself, what actually happened.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah, well, Sevu was at this party in christ Church.
He was getting a bit disruptive and he was asked
to leave and then next minute he was sort of
behind the wheel of a car and he drove it
into a garage and then he sort of took off
on foot. So initially he was charged with unlawfully taking
a motor vehicle, but that was later brought down to
this single charge of wilful damage. So it's been sort

(01:02):
of a year or more waiting for this to be
resolved in court.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
And under what justification did his lawyer ask for discharge
without conviction? Why did the judge grant it?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, the lawyer's point was, he's got potentially a big
career in front of him, which you know, his employment
requires a lot of traveling and future employment could be
hindered by a conviction. It was very in the grand
scale of things, it's very low level offending. And the
lawyer put to the court that it was just simply

(01:32):
the gravity of the offending it didn't, you know, require
a conviction. The judge agreed. She sort of outlined all
of her reasons for that and said at the end
that anyone in the same situation would have got to
discharge for that conviction as well, sort of reading between
the lines. She wasn't giving it to him so he
could play rugby. Wasn't because there was a celebrity. It

(01:54):
was literally because he's a young guy with a potential
career ahead of him. Was the low level charge and
that was their thing for her to do today.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, that being said, this isn't the first time he's
been granted a discharge without conviction. Just remind us of
what happened in the past.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Not yeah, I think it was twenty and eighteen. He
was charged with common assault. It was a domestic situation
and he effectively assaulted his partner at the time. In
that case, he was granted discharge without conviction for similar reasons.
The judge today said, you know, she was mindful that
that had happened, and he obviously alcohol played a big

(02:31):
part in both offenses that he clearly needs to address
that so it doesn't happen again. But she did point
out that the two offenses were very, very different and
she had to treat them as such. But she you know,
she did acknowledge quite heavily in court that it is
not his first time before the courts. It is not
his first offense, and it's not his first time he's

(02:52):
been there because of his alcohol, and you know that
he needs to really really sort himself out.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Thanks you, tom Anna, We appreciate it. New Zealand, he'ld
porter analysk. The New Zealand Rugby is running an employment
process with Sibu Reese and the details and results of
that employment process are apparently going to remain confidential, but
the support them at the stage. For more from Hither
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