By ANNA RUSHWORTH Three teenagers who exploded a pipe bomb in a Papamoa playground will be forced to pick up barbed wire and sea lettuce for their crime. Daniel Walter Baldwin, Daniel Douglas Goodall and Stephen Rodney Spain were arrested nine days ago after the bomb exploded in Waterford Domain on September10, sending jagged metal flying up to 70 metres. Baldwin, a 17-year-old builder, Goodall, an 18-year-old apprentice engineer, both from Mount Maunganui, and Spain, a 17-year-old polytechnic student from Papamoa, were charged with intentional damage with explosives. If they complete community service the judge will consider discharging them without conviction. They have been refused name suppression. On the night of the explosion, the three had a 150mm pipe into which they inserted a wick and gunpowder from fireworks before crimping the ends. They waited for two women to leave the swing area before Goodall placed the bomb under the slide and Baldwin lit the fuse. They were still running away when the bomb exploded, wrecking the slide and scattering shrapnel into nearby properties. Residents told the Bay of Plenty Times of hearing the blast over a wide area and finding pieces of the pipe up to 70m away. Tauranga District Court was told yesterday that the trio fled in Spain's car. Defence counsel David Bates told the court his clients were normally hard-working young men from good families. His clients had paid the council $2500 in damages to the park side and apologised in writing to council park staff yesterday morning. They had already voluntarily worked eight hours each of community service for their crime. He added his clients were paying for their legal representation themselves. Judge Ian Thomas told the trio there was no excuse for their actions and gun powder was volatile and not to be played with. "You have no idea how strong it is." He agreed with the trio's lawyer that 80 hours' community service was a suitable punishment and he would then consider discharging them without conviction. Outside court, council reserves manager Geoff Canham confirmed the trio had paid cash for the slide's repair and apologies had been received.
The three will work for the council by picking up sea lettuce, removing barbed wire fences from scrub and chopping gorse.
