Insufficient evidence prompted a court to discharge a Whangarei fisherman who refused to pay his motor vehicle registration and licence fees in protest that the payments should not be forced upon motorists by the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Marc Pawley walked out of the Whangarei District Court a free man yesterday after Judge John McDonald ruled the Crown had not provided any evidence that suggested the fisherman wanted to obtain a pecuniary advantage by displaying his own registration plate and warrant of fitness.
The 53-year-old had received infringement notices on four separate occasions when stopped by police who discovered he had registered his Nissan Terrano to himself until December 21, 2012 and manufactured his own registration plate 528MDP.
On the fifth occasion, police charged him with using a document for pecuniary advantage instead of issuing further infringement notices because he was not paying the fines.
Pawley argued the Land Transport legislation did not stipulate that motor vehicles have to be registered with the government entity.