Tauranga man accused of stealing ambulance equipment, possessing police property

A man accused of theft of equipment from Hato Hone St John and unlawful possession of police property appeared in the Tauranga Registrar's Court on April 14. Photo/ NZME

The identity of a Tauranga man accused of stealing property from an ambulance and unlawfully possessing police property has been suppressed.

The defendant appeared in the Tauranga Registrar’s Court today facing two charges.

He was charged with unlawful possession of police property, namely a stinger tyre deflation device - commonly known as road spikes - as well as a police notebook and notice to order a defective vehicle off the road.

The maximum penalty for the Policing Act charge was three months in prison and/or a fine of $2000.

He was also charged with theft by a person in a special relationship, a Crimes Act offence punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment.

Police accused him of committing theft by “knowingly having control of Whelen lighting and siren controller” and intentionally failing to account to Hato Hone St John for this property as required..

The offences were alleged to have been committed this year elsewhere in New Zealand.

Defence lawyer Mike Douglas told a Tauranga Court Registrar that he and police prosecutor Kerry Sykes had discussed the charges and sought a two-week remand period for her to consider police diversion.

Douglas successfully sought interim name suppression for his client.

The defendant was remanded on bail, subject to conditions, to reappear in court on May 2 before a community magistrate, when name suppression would be revisited, the registrar said.

Bail conditions required him to live at a specific address, not to possess any emergency services equipment nor install any of this type of equipment in any vehicle.

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.