Burglar with baby escapes jail

Break all contact with your criminal partner or go to prison - that was the choice faced by a teenage burglar in Tauranga District Court today.

First offender Jessica Anne Girvan, 19, who brought her baby to court, was appearing for sentence on 10 burglary charges.

Over a two-week stretch in May, she and her de facto husband travelled from their Taupo home to the Tauranga area on a crime spree, their three-month-old daughter in the car with them throughout.

Girvan later told police the unemployed pair were short of money and had embarked on the burglary binge with their child "because we are a family."

Judge Arthur Tompkins heard that the co-offender, who faced charges in addition to the 10 joint counts with Girvan, had been jailed yesterday for two years nine months when he was sentenced in Taupo District Court.

Older than Girvan, he had previous convictions for burglary, theft and drug offending.

Lawyer Peter Attwood said Girvan was under the spell of her partner, and was "quite simply misguided" in her determination to stay committed to him.

"He is very much a malevolent influence but she wants to remain with him despite him being in custody," said Mr Attwood.

"Unfortunately it is a situation that smacks of naivety."

Girvan had told her partner before and after each burglary that their actions were wrong.

In refusing to cut contact with the man, Girvan was rebelling against her parents' authority, he said. Letters and telephone calls had continued.

The defendant's mother, in the court's public gallery with the baby, was "absolutely appalled" at her daughter's relationship.

Arguing for home detention for his client, Mr Attwood said she could have no physical contact with her incarcerated partner and the court could impose conditions stopping any communication.

Judge Tompkins said he had had real concerns about her insistence that the relationship would continue, exposing the couple's child to "the normalisation of criminal offending."

"Her concern that (the baby) will grow up without a father seems misplaced. He has failed as a father to his other children."

Imposing a 10 month sentence of home detention, the judge said Girvan had avoided jail "by a fine margin."

NZPA