Tauranga CPR theft: Man who stole bank cards after crash admits charges in court

A man, whose identity is suppressed, pleaded guilty in the Tauranga District Court to charges of stealing bank cards and spending $1037.94. Photo / NZME

A man helped perform CPR on a motorist on a Tauranga roadside then stole bank cards from the patient’s car and spent more than $1000, court documents show.

The man pleaded guilty in the Tauranga District Court today to charges of theft from a car and using stolen bank cards for a pecuniary advantage.

Judge Bill Lawson granted the man interim name suppression.

The police summary revealed that victim Andrew McKenzie and his wife Marion were driving along Te Awanui Drive near Tauranga Harbour Bridge about 11am on December 4 when he suffered a medical event.

When McKenzie, 67, lost consciousness, his wife stopped the car and started to perform CPR, the summary said.

The defendant was also on Te Awanui Drive about 11.30am that day and stopped and helped remove Andrew McKenzie from the car.

The defendant helped perform CPR and several other members of the public stopped to assist, the summary said.

Police said the defendant then entered the McKenzies’ car and took a purse that contained several bank cards.

The defendant told Marion McKenzie he had to leave as he had to be “somewhere else in a hurry”.

Between 12.41pm and 3.20pm that day, the defendant used two of the stolen cards at retail shops in Tauranga

They were used at three fuel stations, a pharmacy and a vape shop, with transactions totalling $1037.94.

The defendant told police he was sorry and this was “an old, bad habit” and the stolen cards were in his wallet.

Judge Lawson refused bail and remanded the defendant in custody for sentencing on February 13.

Judge Lawson said the interim suppression order would be revisited then and supporting written documents would be required from defence counsel.

Nicole Jennings, daughter of Andrew and Marion McKenzie, confirmed to the Bay of Plenty Times that her father remained in a Tauranga Hospital ward.

Jennings said she and her parents did not wish to make any further comment.

Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.