By Belinda Feek, Open Justice reporter of 
Hamilton woman Anna Rikiau was jailed on multiple charges, including using obscene language, theft and assault, after a series of incidents. Photo: Belinda Feek
A woman who attacked a motorist, ripping out a clump of hair, and then racially abused her neighbour has pleaded for another chance to avoid prison.
Anna Rikiau claimed her drug addiction got the better of her during a spree of offending between 2022 and 2024, but a judge was unable to get past the numerous times she had reoffended while on bail.
"What message am I sending her if ultimately I don't jail her when her history is, she just wants to hit people?" Judge Noel Cocurullo asked Rikiau's lawyer, Scott McKenna, in the Hamilton District Court.
The judge said Rikiau had not been imprisoned for many years, and he wondered how many more chances she should get.
"I would argue [she should] get as many as it takes," McKenna replied.
But Judge Cocurullo disagreed.
Rikiau admitted 17 charges, which spanned from April 4, 2022, to January 21 this year.
The first involved a serious assault in Hamilton of a woman who was driving along Odette St.
The woman had pulled over to answer her phone and, as she then continued to drive, she slowed to wait for a van, which Rikiau was in, pulling out of a driveway.
The van stopped, Rikiau got out and approached the woman's vehicle.
Rikiau asked if she was lost and began to yell at her.
She then got back into the van and reversed towards the woman's car, but the woman managed to manoeuvre around Rikiau and drove to another property.
When she arrived, Rikiau also pulled up.
She approached the woman, yelling and accusing her of having been looking up her driveway, to which the woman tried to explain she hadn't been.
Rikiau punched the woman in the nose and, as she tried to get back into her car, she grabbed a piercing on Rikiau's face in self-defence.
Rikiau then ripped out a large chunk of the victim's hair and punched her five times.
As the woman rang the police, Rikiau drove past her five times.
The woman suffered concussion and bruising to her eye, arms and legs.
Later offending by Rikiau led to her facing charges of speaking threateningly and using obscene language.
On August 27 last year, Rikiau had approached her neighbour to ask if the woman had called the police about an incident that had occurred at Rikiau's home the previous day.
When the woman confirmed she had, Rikiau told her to stay out of her business and not to call the police.
The next day, Rikiau went back and accused the woman of looking at her house when she drove past, saying she did not appreciate it.
The woman said, "Okay," and closed her curtains.
However, Rikiau then yelled that, if the woman wanted trouble, she would bring it, while calling her a slew of names, including a "Pakeha b****," a "f****** cracker c***", and said "f*** you, you white b****".
Another assault charge related to an incident at a gym, where Rikiau "manhandled" someone over a perceived "raruraru", or dispute.
Rikiau also faced charges of theft, burglary and using a document after she stole two wallets from a staff area at the Claudelands Events Centre in August 2022, while working there as a contractor.
One contained $150 cash, while the other was a Louis Vuitton wallet worth $1000.
Rikiau spent $95.68 on a debit card and $180 on a Visa card from the wallets.
Then, in November 2022, she went to Best Start childcare in Bader and stole two bankcards from a staff-only area before buying "numerous" packets of cigarettes for a total of $361.77.
She then visited two other stores and spent a further $321.
In November 2023, Rikiau transferred the ownership of a vehicle into her name before selling it to a wrecker for $200.
She also tried to steal $502 worth of groceries from Countdown Peachgrove Rd in May 2023, but was stopped by two members of the public.
She told police she didn't have any money to pay for the groceries and needed to feed her children.
Then, in February last year, she stole 12 bags of lollies from BP Connect Tristram St.
After putting them in her car, she went back in and stole three Bluetooth speakers.
The total haul was valued at $230.88.
'She presents now as a different person'
In court, McKenna said Rikiau had done a lot of work on herself, including engaging in counselling.
"She has been pretty proactive. She has stayed clean from drugs and offence-free for 10 months.
"It's the fruits of her labour. She has identified the causes and done the mahi ... and presents now as a different person.
"She's healthier and well spoken."
He explained that the trauma she had suffered had led to drug addiction, which in turn had led to the offending.
While Judge Cocurullo accepted that, he remained pained by the numerous occasions she had reoffended while on bail.
"There's somewhere between seven and nine occasions through the life of these charges where she was on bail and offended on bail," he told McKenna.
But McKenna pushed for home detention.
"Because we want [her] to stop offending, and if a home detention sentence, with the support that she has got in place, is going to stop her offending, then it should be the outcome," McKenna said.
"I'm not here saying that this is okay, that this should be excused.
"I'm here saying we need to stop the cycle, and she's taken significant steps to stop the cycle ... and we should support that."
The judge said the value of the dishonesty was significant, and so too were the assaults.
"One of them was particularly brutal that, frankly, broke the victim and still gives her grief this far on.
"And the fact that, while on bail, you committed another assault at the gym, which saw you think that you were entitled to manhandle another individual."
That was all set against the background of an "extensive" criminal history with numerous rehabilitative sentences to help Rikiau stop reoffending.
"Particularly to stop your entitlement to think that you could be violent to people as you would see fit," the judge said.
After taking a starting point of 33 months' imprisonment and applying various discounts, he jailed Rikiau for 25 months.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.
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