Dodgy WOF' comes back to bite pair

Two mechanics made separate appearances before Judge Greg Davis in Kaitaia District Court last week over the same "dodgy warrant of fitness", as it was repeatedly referred to, issued for a utility vehicle that didn't survive the purchaser's drive home.

Twenty-one-year-old Cadin Evander Reid (Kaitaia), charged with using a forged document, and 26-year-old Clinton Desmond Culpan (Ahipara), whose charge was reduced to making a false document, both entered guilty pleas and were remanded on bail to October 18 for sentence.

Reid was told that if no address was available for the serving of an electronic sentence he would be going to jail, while Culpan, described by counsel Michael Powell as the lesser offender, was told to expect community detention or community work.

According to the summary of facts Culpan, who became an authorised vehicle inspector in 2010 and was employed by a Kaitaia garage, issued a warrant of fitness for a utility vehicle owned by Reid, employed by another garage, which issued warrants of fitness, as a car valet, on October 1 last year. Culpan told police he and Reid were known to each other as associates, while Reid said they were friends.

The day the vehicle was inspected was a Saturday, when the garage was not open for business, and Culpan was the only employee there. Having lost his driver's licence for 12 months he would not have been able to road test the vehicle, but it was placed on a hoist for a thorough under-body check. Culpan told police Reid was there, and looked at the vehicle's underbody, but Reid said he had dropped the vehicle off and collected it later.

Meanwhile, there was no record of the standard booking system having been followed, and Culpan denied entering relevant details into the computer system after the assessment, although his unique authorisation number had been recorded. He told police Reid must have obtained his password, but later admitted entering the details himself.

The warrant of fitness label was described as having been issued by The WOF Centre, which police said was a fictitious name, while the carbon copy had had the words "rong month" written on it, with the registration number FQC152, very similar to a vehicle (FCQ154) that underwent a legitimate test a few days later. FQC152 belonged to a Whangarei vehicle that had never been to the Kaitaia garage.

Culpan also told police he had no knowledge of how or when Reid paid for the inspection. Reid said he paid $35 cash to Culpan when he collected the vehicle. The garage had no record of any payment being made.

The next month Reid sold the vehicle on Trade Me to a Rotorua man who met him in Auckland and paid $6300 in cash. Nearing Tirau on his way home the left rear wheel and axle broke, departing from and overtaking the vehicle.

A mechanic who examined the vehicle told police it was in a dangerous state of disrepair and should never have passed a warrant of fitness check, adding that the mechanical problems were historic.

The brakes and steering box were also described as in a dangerous state, and the front differential pinion had collapsed. Repairs cost $4870.

RamificationsCulpan's appearance last week resulted in a protracted discussion between Judge Davis and counsel Michael Powell, the latter noting that the vehicle had been sold two months after the warrant was issued, and could have deteriorated in that time. The defendant, he added, had had no knowledge that the vehicle, whose deficiencies may have been known to Reid, was to be sold.

Judge Davis questioned the relevance of the fact that the vehicle had been sold, inasmuch as whoever drove it, and whoever was on the road in the immediate vicinity, would have been in the same danger as befell the Rotorua purchaser. And while Reid might have known of its deficiencies, so should Culpan, given that he was the expert.

The Rotorua mechanic had described the vehicle as a time bomb that went off.

Reid, Mr Powell said, may have been prepared to run the risk, and Culpan had been party to that, but his client had already received his comeuppance, having lost his job, although he had found a new one in the same field, with a Kaitaia firm which Mr Powell understood did not issue warrants of fitness.

He had convictions for drink driving "and the like" but none for dishonesty, while his lesser degree of culpability had been recognised by the police reducing the charge from using a document, which carried a maximum 10-year prison term, to making a document, which carried a maximum of three.

Police prosecutor Duncan Coleman said the penalty needed a punitive element. Culpan's actions could have put a cyclist or any other road user at risk - "Or you or I," Judge Davis said.

"He got $35 out of it and lost his job. I don't know what was going through his head," Mr Coleman added.

"My client acknowledges a degree of dishonesty," Mr Powell replied.

"He accepts that what happened should not have happened, but he could not have anticipated that it would end up coming before the court."