Te Arai Charles King jailed for a raft of Wellington dishonesty offending

Te Arai Charles King was sentenced in the Wellington District Court this week. Photo / NZME

A judge sentencing a man for dishonesty offending said he can’t trust what the criminal told probation, because nothing he said could be relied upon.

“The truth and you are strangers, Mr King,” Judge John Walker told Te Arai Charles King at his sentencing on a raft of dishonesty charges this week.

The judge said King’s account to probation contained “inaccuracies and untruths”.

“It’s not clear if drug addiction is the driver of this offending, it may be, but nothing you say can be relied upon,” Judge Walker said.

The judge also noted this wasn’t the first time the 36-year-old had been economical with the truth.

In previous pre-sentence reports, which detail an offender’s history, King’s description of his background had ranged from being abused in state care, to living with an aunt in Lower Hutt, to finally claiming he was supported by his family.

Where the truth lay was not clear, the judge said.

At his sentencing, the Wellington District Court heard King had a history of dishonesty offending and had only recently finished a five-month sentence of home detention when he began a crime spree in September.

Over nine weeks, he racked up 12 charges, largely for dishonesty, involving 11 victims. These included the theft from a hotel lobby office of a bag containing a laptop and phone that had been left there by a guest for collection later.

There was also the destruction of letterboxes at an apartment building in the capital after King walked in, ripped the doors off the letterboxes and helped himself to the mail inside. It cost $7000 to replace the mailboxes.

The court heard King also stole food, clothing and courier parcels, and took keys and a wallet, containing a bank card, from a changing room at a public swimming pool. He then used the card dishonestly, the judge said.

King’s lawyer Barnaby Manktelow sought a starting point of 12 months’ imprisonment; a month less than police prosecutor Joseph Corbett had suggested.

Judge Walker agreed with the Crown’s starting point and, after taking into account King’s guilty pleas, jailed him for nine and a half months.

The judge noted there was little point in ordering reparation as King could not pay it.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently, she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.