Hamilton recidivist thief Cole Jenkins sentenced for $25,000 crime spree

Cole Frederick Jenkins’ recent offending stretched from Auckland to Cambridge, and involved everything from power tools to sunglasses to a $1500 e-scooter to groceries. Photo / Getty Images

A recidivist shoplifter who has been stealing for more than half his life says he now wants to break his thieving habit.

Cole Frederick Jenkins’ most recent “indiscriminate” offending stretched from Auckland to Cambridge, and involved everything from power tools to sunglasses to a $1500 e-scooter to groceries.

“Sentences in the past have done nothing to deter you or rehabilitate you,” Judge Kim Saunders told the 41-year-old in the Hamilton District Court on Friday as she jailed him on 40 charges, mostly dishonesty-related.

“I ask if you are genuinely committed to rehabilitating, but I’m not entirely convinced that you are because you have been stealing for nearly 25 years.”

His counsel, Rob Quin, said an electronically monitored sentence was never going to be sought, and sentencing was simply about whether there would be any more discounts after he accepted a sentence indication back in July.

Jenkins, of Hamilton, now wanted to turn his life around and quit his thieving.

“He has had some time in custody to clear his head,” Quin said.

“It sounds like he’s reconnected with family and sounds like he’s in a much better position than when I first met him earlier this year.”

Jenkins’ crime spree

Two of the 40 charges were for burglaries from December last year.

One at Stihl Morrinsville when he walked into a workshop and took an AEG battery grinder and $1500 battery pack from a van and left.

He then stole more pools from Novus Glass later that month.

The rest of his thefts occurred between August and February this year.

He stole $2345 worth of chainsaws from Stihl, and just under $4000 worth of sunglasses from Sunglass Hut in Newmarket.

Jenkins stole a $1500 e-scooter from The Warehouse Hillcrest and a $1200 vacuum cleaner from Briscoes.

He also stole thousands of dollars worth of power tools from Mitre 10, boots from Footloose in Cambridge, perfume worth $788 from a pharmacy in Cambridge, a hedge trimmer, clothing, speakers from Noel Leeming, and more than $2000 worth of groceries from Woolworths St James and Rototuna.

Mitre 10 has trespassed Hamilton man Cole Jenkins after he repeatedly stole from the store. Photo / Supplied

At his sentencing, the judge said she wasn’t surprised Mitre 10 had trespassed Jenkins.

She labelled his offending as “repetitive and planned”.

“You clearly knew where you were going,” she said.

“The value [stolen] is at least $25,000.”

She said he could not afford to pay any reparation.

“I went through what it is that you stole because you are so indiscriminate as to the nature of the items and property that you took.

“It doesn’t surprise me to learn that you have 50 previous dishonesty convictions since you were first convicted of burglary in 2001.”

Jenkins penned his own cultural report for the judge, outlining his exposure to violence as a youngster and why he turned to alcohol and drugs.

However, she noted that he had gained some work skills during his life and was the head of painting at Spring Hill Prison.

She gave him 5% credit for the work he had done trying to rehabilitate himself before jailing him for 20 months.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.