$25 shorts slip-up costly for principal

Hawea Vercoe, principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti. Photo / Alan Gibson

A $25 pair of shorts ended up costing a school principal almost $2000 in court fees after he was acquitted of a charge of stealing from The Warehouse.

Hawea Vercoe, principal of Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Rotoiti, appeared in the Whakatane District Court on Thursday facing a charge of stealing a pair of denim shorts, the Rotorua Daily Post reported.

The court was told Vercoe went to The Warehouse with four of his children and two nephews on December 31 last year.

Intending to take the children to the movies, he went to buy some shorts to wear because the ones he had on were dirty.

He told the court he put the shorts on and walked to the counter still wearing them, with his old pair of shorts, his wallet and the tags from the new pair in his hand ready to be scanned.

When he realised he had only $20 cash left and no eftpos card on him, he left the store to get his card from his truck, parked a few metres away.

He was stopped by a security guard at his truck and was asked to go with him. Police were called. Vercoe said he told security staff it was a "mistake" and he had planned to pay.

Judge Christopher Harding dismissed the charge, saying he had not intended to be dishonest.

Vercoe told the Weekend Herald he was disappointed the case was even taken to court, given that it had been an honest mistake.

"The shorts cost $25 and yet with all the fees piled up now ... I still need to add it up, but it's edging at up to $1800 - pretty expensive shorts!"

Vercoe - also Environment Bay of Plenty's Okurei Maori seat councillor and a member of the Rotorua District Council's Te Arawa standing committee - said the past four months had been a worrying time over nothing.

The Warehouse security guard's failure to take a written statement from him and to stop and think about the situation, had been another major annoyance and flaw, he said.

"If he had taken the time to look - that the kids were in the line waiting for me and I had the card on me - we wouldn't have even been in this situation."

He said he hoped a two-year ban imposed by The Warehouse after the incident would be disregarded now he had been acquitted.

"What a ridiculous thing to be drawn to court for. I'll make sure that I've got my eftpos card in my pocket before I go anywhere next time."

- additional reporting by NZPA