Skipper loses bid to change bail conditions

A protester accused of using his boat in an unsafe manner during action against oil giant Petrobas in the Raukumara Basin has lost his battle to go further out to sea while on bail.
Supporters of protest boat skipper Elvis Teddy again showed up with their placards to see Teddy, 44, plead not guilty at Tauranga District Court yesterday to charges of operating a vessel in an unsafe manner and resisting arrest.
His lawyer, Vanessa Withy, asked for Teddy's bail condition that he not go further than a kilometre to sea be changed.
She said Teddy was a commercial fisherman and needed to go up to 9.2km out to sea in his work.
Police prosecutor Mark Graham said the set distance of one kilometre was sufficient for him to carry out his crayfish collecting duties.
Community Magistrate Sherida Cooper declined the request and remanded Teddy until a status hearing on July 5.
Teddy, as captain of San Pietro, was arrested last month for allegedly breaching section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act - operating the vessel in a manner which caused unnecessary risk to the oil-drilling survey ship Orient Explorer by breaching the exclusion zone around it.