Court hears of Russian orphan's sad life
Court hears of Russian orphan's sad life
By David Clarkson
A Russian adopted from an orphanage at age two had become a “one man crime spree” in New Zealand, a judge commented as he jailed the 22-year-old for his latest offending.
The Christchurch District Court sentencing session heard about the sad life of Alexei Nickavick Kelly who is struggling with drugs and alcohol, authority issues, and low self-esteem.
“Alcohol is clearly a way of screening out the loss of his parents,” said defence counsel Clare Yardley.
He was removed from an orphanage in Russia at age two. His father had died of alcohol-induced hypothermia in a snowstorm and his mother was in jail. “She has been released but he has never been able to make contact with her,” said Mrs Yardley.
There were nine in the family and three came to New Zealand and were placed with a family that physically and mentally punished them, she said. “He suffered abuse throughout his formative years.”
Kelly got work in the construction industry, and the fishing industry in Nelson. He also lived in Ashburton, and in Alexandra.
From 2009, he began amassing a serious history of criminal offending. He had become a “one man crime spree”, said the judge. He had four pages listing his convictions, including some for serious offending. He had 17 convictions for dishonesty including 11 burglaries. He had received sentences of community work, intensive supervision, home detention, and imprisonment.
Kelly had been remanded in custody for sentence on charges of burglary, wilful damage, attempting to pervert the course of justice, breach of his bail, and breach of release conditions.
About 1.45am, on a night in November in Christchurch, Kelly stood on the bonnet of a car in a car sales yard and then kicked the windscreen, breaking it and causing $1224 damage. He gave the name and date of birth of his brother and the charge was laid in that name. The ruse was discovered when Kelly didn’t turn up for a court appearance and the officer who followed up found that the photograph did not match the alleged offender.
On January 8, about 3am, Kelly tried car doors along Memorial Avenue and eventually found one unlocked along a driveway and stole a box of alcohol.
Mrs Yardley said that when he jumped on the vehicle, he had his brother’s ID so that he could get into hotels, and he gave those details to police because he was drunk.
“He has not seen his brother since he has been in jail for six weeks on remand. Whether this has driven a wedge between them I cannot say.”
Kelly was seen as an intelligent man who had not lived up to his potential and she had always found him very police to deal with. He was never “pushy”. He hoped to go to university in Dunedin.
She said Kelly felt his offending was diminishing but acknowledged that he was struggling. “He doesn’t stick at things for long enough for them to have some effect.” He wanted to attend the Drug Treatment Unit in Paparua Prison “to get on top on top of his alcohol and drug problem”.
Judge Crosbie described Kelly as struggling with authority since being adopted from Russia. Substance abuse issues appeared to be related to his birth parents.
He was estranged from his adopted family because of his anti-social behaviour, and he had low self-esteem and a strong sense of failure because of his childhood issues.
He had been exited from the St Marks drug rehabilitation programme in Blenheim, but wanted to go to Moana House in Dunedin. He had issues of mental health but no mental illness was diagnosed.
He had reported self-harm in the past, and was assessed as a medium risk of re-offending.
He could now been seen as a recidivist burglary. “The message to the community is that repeat burglars will be dealt with severely by the courts.”
Judge Crosbie jailed Kelly for two years four months and ordered him to pay $1244 for the damage he did to the car.