{"id":293541,"date":"2026-02-20T14:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293541\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:09:08","slug":"calem-jackson-crashed-into-hamilton-rubbish-truck-knocked-driver-out-with-a-coward-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293541\/","title":{"rendered":"Calem Jackson crashed into Hamilton rubbish truck, knocked driver out with a coward punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, Jackson appeared in the Hamilton District Court<\/a>, where he was sentenced on six charges for various offences, including the attack on the driver in May last year.<\/p>\n

In court, Jackson said he was remorseful, ready to change his ways, and keen to get help for his drug addiction.<\/p>\n

But Judge Nicola Grimes told him he\u2019d had plenty of other opportunities to change but chose to reoffend.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know right from wrong,\u201d she told him. <\/p>\n

\u2018Bash, cash, and burglaries\u2019<\/p>\n

The court heard it was 1.40pm on July 15, last year, when Jackson crashed his Toyota into the back of the truck on Burns Court in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

After punching the driver, Jackson moved his car, while the victim lay unconscious on the road for a short period.<\/p>\n

The victim was left with cuts and bruising to the left side of his face.<\/p>\n

As well as injuring with intent to injure, Jackson was sentenced on charges of theft, burglary, and breaching community work.<\/p>\n

The theft involved him taking a gold bracelet into Waigold in Hamilton East on May 1 last year.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe court documents showed the truck driver was knocked unconscious and fell face-first. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

After Jackson was paid $600 for the bracelet, the shop attendant got distracted.<\/p>\n

Jackson took the opportunity not only to take the cash, but also to leave with the bracelet. <\/p>\n

The burglary charges related to him breaking into a Nawton home and stealing a television, clothing and other property on June 9, and taking a bike charger and security lights from a Mears Rd garage on August 29.<\/p>\n

Police arrived as he was walking down the driveway, and he told them he was there to meet a friend who owned the items.<\/p>\n

He was interrupted by a neighbour during a burglary of another garage, in which he nabbed a car jack and a heavy-duty extension cord.<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s very embarrassed by what he\u2019s done\u2019<\/p>\n

In court, Jackson\u2019s counsel, Wayne Dollimore, submitted that although a pre-sentence report noted it was unclear whether his client was remorseful, he said he was.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d attended a restorative justice conference with one victim and entered guilty pleas to the charges early on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is very embarrassed about the assault and realises he didn\u2019t handle the situation very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Jackson has an unfortunate background.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been in and out of jail for many years, and is very candid about this, and told me, \u2018I go to jail, get out, then just go back into jail\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"CourtCourt documents also showed Calem Jackson in the act when he nabbed a bracelet he had just sold for $600 to a pawn shop. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really saying that he needs help for his addiction to drugs, which is the driver here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson was given the opportunity to speak to the judge, and said he was desperate to get the help that he needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in and out of jail since I was 17,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018You violated their safe space\u2019<\/p>\n

The police prosecutor classified Jackson\u2019s punch to the rubbish truck driver as a \u201cking-hit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s well established how dangerous these punches are to victims,\u201d the prosecutor said, adding that there should be an uplift for Jackson\u2019s \u201cbrazen burglaries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Nicola Grimes was unimpressed by the break-ins. <\/p>\n

\u201cThree innocent people that you did not know had their homes broken into by you and their personal belongings taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese homes are the safe space, and their sanctuary, which you violated.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne victim let you know just what your actions made them feel. It\u2019s not hard to imagine that all the victims felt the same … \u2019anxious, extremely stressed, hyper vigilant\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that the victim was asleep and was worried that you were going to return and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the rubbish truck driver, the judge said he was entitled to go to work that day and be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou crashed into him and knocked him out cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she allowed 20% credit for Jackson\u2019s guilty pleas, that was essentially cancelled out by a 20% uplift for about 130 previous criminal convictions.<\/p>\n

Now notching up his 25th sentencing, Judge Grimes suspected that each time Jackson had been told about the impact of his offending on the victims and yet he\u2019d chosen to continue to offend.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though you have been given offers of support, and been given that support, and you know right from wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been many attempts at getting you help for your drug use but it simply has not worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Jackson realised he was going to get a longer prison term than he\u2019d hoped, he yelled out, \u201cThis ain\u2019t gonna work either\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Grimes continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have also noted that your previous sentences have been relatively short bursts. This time is different. <\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot ignore the effect of your offending on your current victims and the need to hold you to account.\u201d<\/p>\n

She jailed him for 32 months.<\/p>\n

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Jackson appeared in the Hamilton District Court, where he was sentenced on six charges for various…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[162317,92642,15979,19552,6288,296,30641,5503,111,43,139,69,3111,101263,38019,23857,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-293541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-calem","9":"tag-coward","10":"tag-crashed","11":"tag-driver","12":"tag-hamilton","13":"tag-into","14":"tag-jackson","15":"tag-knocked","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-out","21":"tag-punch","22":"tag-rubbish","23":"tag-truck","24":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}