Levin burglary victim told he'd inherited debt from previous owner

A grinder, soldering iron and hydroponic light were stolen in the burglary. Photo / 123rf

A man who turned up at a person's house and demanded that the previous resident's debt be paid has been jailed for 10 months.

Philip Stevens appeared at the Levin District Court today for sentencing after having previously pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary.

According to the summary of facts Stevens turned up at the victim's address on November 6 last year with three associates looking for someone who had previously lived there.

After being told that person no longer lived there Stevens told the new resident he'd taken on the debt.

"He turned up and said the debt is yours," Judge David Smith said.

The victim feared for his safety and let Stevens and the three others hang out at the address for the rest of the day.

Then, a week later Stevens and another person turned up at the house again just after 4am, broke into the garage and stole a grinder, a soldering iron and a hydroponic light.

However, the owner of the house turned up while the burglary was happening and phoned police.

Stevens was arrested around the corner with the stolen goods.

Judge Smith said the offending occurred not long after Stevens had been released from prison and he had a string of dishonesty offences to his name.

"You've previously expressed a desire to remove yourself from this kind of behaviour ... but this does not appear to have happened."