Saphfire Angel Erihe-Schaeffer fronts court for attack on police car

An Ipswich teen breached a suspended sentence by leading police on a high-speed chase and ramming a cop car, a court has heard.

An Ipswich teen has found God behind bars after her second extended stint incarcerated, with a wild cop chase ending in her ramming a cop car in a basement carpark the reason for her latest stint in the slammer.

Redbank Plains woman Saphfire Angel Erihe-Schaeffer, 19, was found in Ipswich District Court on Thursday to have breached two suspended sentences and a probation order.

The court heard the suspended sentences and probation order were imposed by the same court on May 14 last year.

On that occasion, she was sentenced to three years’ probation, and two suspended sentences of 18 months and 12 months, both suspended after the 111 days she spent on remand in pre-sentence custody for an operational period of two years.

The court today heard the offences for which she was sentenced on that previous occasion included attempted armed robbery in company with personal violence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and a variety of summary offences.

The robbery occurred on September 29, 2019 at North Ipswich and involved she and her co-defendant Jonathon William Graham, 19, from Leichhardt, slamming a woman’s head into concrete in the car park of Riverlink Shopping Centre in an attempt to steal her car keys.

She was about 10 months into the two-year operational period of the suspended sentences when she committed the majority of the offences which breached those orders, on April 8 this year.

Teen Redbank criminal Saphfire Angel Erihe-Schaeffer, 19. Picture: Facebook

The April 8 offending involved an unlicensed, high-speed chase which required police to deploy a stinger device to halt Erihe-Schaeffer’s rampage, which ended with her ramming a police vehicle in a shopping centre basement carpark at Redbank when officers attempted to box her in with their vehicle.

She was arrested on April 12 and has spent the intervening period, a total of 136 days, remanded in pre-sentence custody.

Erihe-Schaeffer was sentenced for the April 8 batch of offending on August 13, where she was handed a 12-month sentence with parole release as at today, August 26.

Defence counsel Jessica Goldie told the court her client had undertaken Bible studies while incarcerated which had helped her gain insight into her offending.

Judge Dennis Lynch QC told the court Erihe-Schaeffer’s offending was driven by her descent into amphetamine addiction.

“You made a decent effort last time (to rehabilitate yourself), but things came unstuck,” Judge Lynch said.

Judge Lynch activated the remainder of the suspended sentences, a period of 438 days, or about 14-and-a-half months.

However, he granted Erihe-Schaeffer immediate court-ordered parole.

“Good luck,” Judge Lynch said.