A Napier bowling club treasurer stripped the organisation of more than $16,000 and helped hide 29 stolen firearms as he battled a methamphetamine drug problem, the Napier District Court was told this week.
The revelations came after 33-year-old accountant Phillip Shane Jennings, of Pakipaki, pleaded guilty to 22 charges of
fraudulently using Bowls Napier cheques, and one charge of receiving the stolen firearms, which he harboured for one night, after they were taken in a raid on a collector's Ahuriri home on August 6 last year.
Questioned about the embezzlement of $16,050 bowling club funds between July last year and January of this year, Jennings admitted he had a methamphetamine habit and needed the money to buy drugs, said police prosecutor Sergeant Fred van Duuren.
Jennings had also said that when a man arrived at his home with the stolen rifles and pistols on the night of the robbery and he was asked to store the weapons, he did not want to, but was made to comply.
The man collected the firearms the next day, Jennings told police.
Defence counsel Roger Phillips sought an adjournment for sentencing for Jennings to go through restorative justice procedures with the club, to show his remorse and confront the issues of repayment.
Judge Brian Callaghan remanded Jennings on bail for sentence on June 21.
Another man is on remand awaiting a trial on a charge of robbery relating to the taking of the firearms.
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
