Pania thief stays silent on who helped him

The man who stole Pania of the Reef could face a bill of more than $4000 for damage caused by the theft of the iconic Napier statue which he admitted in the Napier District Court yesterday.
Charles James Nukunuku, 25, kept mum over who helped him take the bronze figure from Napier's Marine Parade early on October 27. He is expected to be ordered to pay about $4000 reparation when he appears for sentence on December 20.
He was also saying nothing else as he left court mid-afternoon in a car with TVNZ reporter Jodi Ihaka, after a protracted battle for bail in which Judge Richard Watson heard that, like Pania, Nukunuku had also gone missing in the last month.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Graeme Webster said Nukunuku had not been staying at an address ordered when he faced a charge of theft in court, five days after police found Pania in a garden shed on November 4.
Police opposed the application for bail by lawyer Amanda Courtney, who had entered a guilty plea on Nukunuku's behalf, but the judge ultimately accepted promises by the property's tenant that he would do his best to ensure Nukunuku observed a curfew confining him to home between 7pm and 7am. He would alert police to any breaches.
While Nukunuku was not saying anything outside the court, he did appear in front of a television camera beside the statue which was restored to its bolted and cemented placing on a rock near the Tom Parker Fountain last week.
There he denied that he had taken the statue to earn a Mongrel Mob patch, that anyone else had helped, and, having conceded he was overcome by the wave of publicity and public outrage caused by the theft, said: "I just want to get this whole thing over and done with."
Reading a police summary, Sergeant Webster told the court Nukunuku and another person prised Pania from the three bolts early on October 27, dragged the statue to a nearby car, and took it away.
Pania was concealed in a still-undisclosed hideaway for more than five days, before being taken to a property in Lister Crescent, a few streets from where Nukunuku lived in Maraenui, and hidden under a blanket in a shed, Mr Webster said.
Police, armed with a search warrant, went to the address and rescued the statue on November 4, much to the relief of a mystified city in grief over the loss of its most famous lady. The statue had scratches and other damage.
Mr Webster said Nukunuku was found at home later and told police Pania was like a good-luck charm. He would not say who else had helped.
The officer said the cost of damage, and putting Pania back in place, was still being assessed but was expected to be about $4000, for which reparation was being sought.
Held in custody for about three hours while bail and custody issues were discussed, Nukunuku, with a record including jail for robbery and facing a charge with a maximum penalty of seven years, was warned by the judge that if there was any breach of his bail, he would be held in custody pending sentencing.
Two people originally charged with theft after Pania was found at their home, and who had been remanded until yesterday, will appear in court again next Wednesday.
Shiralee Valerie Rogan, 26, and Che Te Kooti Dion Rogan, 27, are now charged with receiving stolen property, and also face cannabis charges relating to discoveries made by police at the time they found the statue.