More jail time for repeat offender

A Napier man who was jailed for three years after conning his way into free accommodation by pretending to be an evacuee of the Napier siege and then ripping off the motel appeared in court again yesterday on new burglary charges.

Raniera Harris, 23, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to one charge of burglary and one charge of breaching his community work provisions.

Harris was jailed in 2009 following an incident in which he gave a false address to the Tennyson Inn, who were providing free accommodation to people evacuated during the siege and then stole a laptop, a cellphone, a charger and a number of credit cards from an office in the motel.

At the time Judge Geoff Rea called the then 19-year-old "a one-man crime wave" and took into account his seven prior burglary convictions and 39 previous convictions for dishonesty during sentencing.

Yesterday the court heard how the number of burglary convictions had risen to 14.

He was imprisoned on February 22 this year for a month on another burglary charge.

The most recent burglary offence took place on March 23, one day after his scheduled release from jail.

His lawyer, Nicola Graham, said her client had a pattern of reoffending and acknowledged further imprisonment was inevitable.

The police summary of facts said Harris had jumped a fence into the enclosed yard of Countdown in Napier, where he had been told beer was being stored.

He had attempted to make off with two packs of beer before being spotted by a passer-by who called police.

Harris told the police he had jumped the fence because he was sobering up and was bored.