Police hopeful discharged without conviction for crime spree

A woman who took part in a $30,000 crime spree along the length of the West Coast may still realise her ambition of joining the police force, after a Greymouth District Court judge discharged her without conviction.

Jessica Louise Jane Bollen, 23, of Taupo, denied multiple charges of theft or receiving relating to a series of thefts, mainly from cars but also from the Barrytown Lodge, early in December 2009.

Judge Colin Doherty yesterday found her guilty of assisting in the burglary of the lodge.

The court had been told Bollen put suitcases stolen from French tourists in a car as two men who had entered the two-storey lodge threw them down from a balcony.

A teenager who had been dealt with in the Youth Court said he, an older brother and Bollen hatched a plan while in Tauranga to travel to the South Island to steal from cars. The brother had since been imprisoned for his part in the offending.

After crossing on the Cook Strait ferry they drove to Westport then south until stopped at Bruce Bay, in South Westland.

As they travelled along the West Coast they broke into vehicles at Westport and Punakaiki, taking a radar detector and other items, before burgling the lodge at Barrytown.

They stole scuba gear from two vehicles while the owners were kayaking, and in South Westland they stole from two other vehicles, taking a laptop computer and ski bags from one.

The teen told the court he and his brother were mainly after cash, while Bollen, a keen photographer, wanted "cameras and what-nots" from the cars.

Sometimes, Bollen acted as a lookout, at other times she helped break in and go through the cars, he told the court.

When their car was searched, Bollen's travel bag contained a camera, video camera and several other items taken from cars.

Bollen initially told police she was a hitchhiker who had been picked up at Franz Josef Glacier, but later admitted being an unwilling member of the group.

She said she did not take part in the thefts and did not know how the items got in her bag.

She showed police two sites where stolen property had been ditched.

From the dock, Bollen tearfully told how she had worked as a certified security guard and had also passed some pre-entry courses towards joining the police.

She knew right from wrong but had been scared of the older brother of the pair she was travelling with.

He had taken her cellphone and she had been unable to escape from him.

Judge Doherty said he was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

- NZPA