{"id":525558,"date":"2026-07-14T12:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525558\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:19:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:19:19","slug":"rotorua-homeless-woman-jailed-for-meth-fuelled-attack-on-elderly-parkinsons-sufferer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525558\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua homeless woman jailed for meth-fuelled attack on elderly Parkinson\u2019s sufferer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis woman has taken a portion of my quality of life and in many ways that\u2019s a hard thing to deal with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She told Smith she was no longer angry but she wanted her to understand the grief she had caused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want you to seek the help that they will give you so that I didn\u2019t get a loss of myself [for nothing] … You are young enough to change and I forgive you for hitting me and banging my head on the ground but I\u2019d like to think you could do something about it, it would make it all worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith attacked the victim on Hinemoa St on October 7 at about 4pm.<\/p>\n

Judge Gregg Hollister-Jones said the victim used a walking stick and it would have been obvious to Smith the woman needed help with her mobility.<\/p>\n

Smith walked up to the woman and said: \u201cWhat are you looking at?\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Hollister-Jones said the victim ignored Smith and carried on walking.<\/p>\n

Smith approached the victim again in an aggressive manner and snatched her prescription glasses off her face, causing the victim to become disoriented, the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe victim slumped over and was attempting to gain her composure when you advanced on her and kicked her with such force that she fell backwards and landed on her back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Hollister-Jones said photographs from CCTV showed Smith standing over the victim as she lay on the hard pavement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, there were some Good Samaritans and they came to the victim\u2019s aid and picked her up and retrieved her spectacles … \u201d<\/p>\n

Police were called and Smith was arrested. She also assaulted a constable while inside the patrol car, striking the female officer\u2019s arm, Judge Hollister-Jones said.<\/p>\n

The impacts on the victim<\/p>\n

The police officer was not injured but the victim suffered a concussion and bruising injuries to her left hip.<\/p>\n

She suffered ongoing physical and psychological impacts, telling the court she became withdrawn for many weeks following the assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first three weeks, I just went to bed … I just wanted to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim received counselling and started to go out into public spaces again but could no longer drive because of her emotional state.<\/p>\n

She said she was a member of a local church that helped the \u201cstreet people<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time [after the assault] some of them came in, and I know they didn\u2019t hurt me, but I just had to get out of there. I\u2019m slowly getting back into those sort of things and thinking [logically] about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s 26 years ago and fought hard during that time to maintain her physical health and control her tremors.<\/p>\n

The victim said in some ways the community had let Smith down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know your full history but you\u2019ve been let down too, so the community needs to help you and I will continue on and will try hard to not become bitter and twisted. Do something with your life, love, there are people out there who can help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith, who appeared in court via video link from prison, replied to the victim and said: \u201cI\u2019m sorry whaea [aunty], sorry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Hollister-Jones said the victim\u2019s words were \u201chelpful and generous\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said Smith initially explored a defence of insanity and there were several delays, not the fault of Smith\u2019s, while the court waited for a second forensic report.<\/p>\n

In the end, her lawyer, Douglas Hall, entered guilty pleas for Smith.<\/p>\n

Judge Hollister-Jones said Smith was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was not taking her prescribed medication at the time of the assault.<\/p>\n

A pre-sentence report said intoxication from a non-prescribed drug, which the court heard was methamphetamine, was a contributing factor in Smith\u2019s behaviour.<\/p>\n

Judge Hollister-Jones said Smith had seven previous criminal convictions for violence-related offending. He condemned her actions in the latest assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a serious street assault on a vulnerable victim at 4pm in the central business district of Rotorua. The court needs to take a firm approach to this kind of street violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was sentenced to 22 months\u2019 jail. Judge Hollister-Jones ordered she must undergo several courses, including for drug and alcohol addiction and anger management, when she is released from prison.<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis woman has taken a portion of my quality of life and in many ways that\u2019s a hard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[89,138,1853,7557,15453,165146,2082,2959,681,14641,108,260058,13240,87567,260059,111,43,139,69,90,1523,24830,1327,38715,16189,48938,151686,3382,4770,1316,1354],"class_list":["post-525558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-attack","tag-business","tag-central","tag-district","tag-elderly","tag-footpaths","tag-for","tag-high","tag-homeless","tag-jailed","tag-kicked","tag-kurai","tag-methamphetamine","tag-methfuelled","tag-monoa","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-over","tag-parkinsons","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-smith","tag-stick","tag-sufferer","tag-using","tag-walking","tag-when","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525558","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=525558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}