Five do time for cause

YOUTH CHARITY: Councillor Di Maxwell tries to bribe her way to freedom during a fundraiser for the youth charity Blue Light. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF

Musician Troy Kingi was spotted loitering suspiciously outside a butcher's.

Councillors Willow-Jean Prime and Di Maxwell were accused of pilfering from a second-hand bookshop.

Community board member and organic farmer Marty Robinson was nabbed for growing a suspicious crop.

Gone Fishin' TV show host Graeme Sinclair claimed he was a conscientious objector, but fellow inmates thought his arrest had something to do with under-size snapper.

Image 1 of 15: The prisoners, their captors, and a few family members at Doing Time for Youth, a fundraiser for youth charity Blue Light.

All five spent part of Saturday in a makeshift jail outside The Warehouse in Waipapa for an event called Doing Time for Youth, a light-hearted fundraiser for the police youth charity Blue Light.

Members of the public were asked to donate to a bail fund to secure the prisoners' release. It was rumoured that Dion Prime was donating a dollar to keep his wife locked up for every dollar given to free her.

The "arrests" was carried out with sirens and loudhailers to draw as much attention as possible. Mr Robinson was dragged from his stall at Kerikeri's Old Packhouse Market, amusing - and in some cases confusing - crowds of shoppers.

Saturday's heavy rain may have helped rather than hindered the fundraiser as people flocked to The Warehouse instead of heading outdoors.

Constable Rob Cameron, a Youth Aid officer at Kerikeri police, said the money raised would be used for a range of youth activities.

They included a weekend away for the victims of serious crime, with a focus on children; trips for at-risk youth to a Blue Light camp with Kaeo Constable Richard Avery; and a new waka ama club for young people in Paihia and Waitangi, modelled on the successful club started by Blue Light at Te Tii in the northern Bay of Islands.

"For a rainy day like this, the money's just poured in. And what a great bunch of volunteers, giving up their day to help kids in our community," Mr Cameron said.

A sausage sizzle by the ladies of the Paihia-Waitangi Waka Ama Club added to the coffers. The Warehouse is inviting every customer to donate $1 to the cause.