Former minister Bunkle gets diversion for theft

Former Government minister Phillida Bunkle has been given diversion after pleading guilty to taking about $30 worth of items from a supermarket.

The former Alliance MP and Consumer Affairs Minister was charged with theft after walking out of a Paraparaumu supermarket without paying for coffee and a bottle of wine on October 16.

The Dominion Post reported yesterday that Bunkle had returned from Britain, where she had been for several weeks, to face the charge at Porirua District Court.