Quake pair sentenced to jail - then freed

Tuam Street. Photo / Simon Baker

Two men arrested for breaking into an earthquake damaged property in Christchurch were today given jail sentences resulting in their immediate release.

Christopher James Jordan Simmons and Matthew James White were found by police and army personnel who checked out the sound of glass breaking at a house on the edge of the CBD cordon in the days after the February 22 earthquake.

Simmons pleaded guilty at a Christchurch District Court sitting inside Christchurch Men's Prison of being unlawfully in a yard after police dropped a burglary charge and was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

White was jailed for two months on the single charge of being unlawfully in the yard.

They were released immediately because they had already served their time in custody while awaiting hearing of their case.

- NZPA