A Tauranga man appeared in the Tauranga District Court and admitted stealing ambulance equipment and illegally possessing police property. Photo / NZME
A Tauranga man appeared in the Tauranga District Court and admitted stealing ambulance equipment and illegally possessing police property. Photo / NZME
A Tauranga man has admitted stealing ambulance equipment and illegally possessing police gear, including a device used to spike the tyres of fleeing vehicles.
The defendant’s interim name suppression was continued when he appeared in the Tauranga District Court on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to two charges but noconvictions were entered.
One charge was 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 (green-sticker book).
The maximum penalty for this Policing Act charge was three months in prison and/or a fine of $2000.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of theft by a person in a special relationship, a Crimes Act offence punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment.
The police summary of facts revealed the defendant was employed elsewhere in New Zealand by a company contracted to Hato Hone St John to work on emergency vehicle lighting and radio systems.
Last year, St John provided him with a Whelen emergency and lighting siren control unit as back-up equipment to resolve some electrical issues.
He finished the work without needing to use the back-up equipment, then “intentionally failed” to return it to St John.
An example of the effects of a police tyre deflation device. Photo / NZME
The police were tipped off via Crimestoppers in March that the man had a police-issued tyre-deflation device commonly known as a road spike.
They searched the man’s vehicle and found the ambulance equipment installed inside.
The spike, police notebook and green-sticker book were also found among his property.
He told police he found the road spikes and green-sticker book in a decommissioned police vehicle he bought, and that a police officer gave him the notebook at an emergency services day event about a decade ago.
The man had not appeared before the court prior to this offending, and was “co-operative and assisted the police to recover the items”, the summary said.
The man’s lawyer Mike Douglas asked Judge Stephen Coyle not to enter convictions as he intended applying for a discharge without conviction and permanent name suppression for his client.
Judge Coyle granted the request and released the man on bail to reappear in the Tauranga District Court on September 10 for a hearing to consider those applications.
The judge said sentencing would take place that day if the applications failed.
The defendant’s bail conditions required him to live at a specific address, and not possess any emergency services equipment, nor install 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.
