KEY POINTS:
A schoolboy, who robbed two dairies and tried to rob two more while wearing a balaclava and carrying imitation pistol later told police it was a prank, a court was told today.
Tamate Salio Tolo, 18, of Hoon Hay, Christchurch, stood downcast in the dock as his counsel David Bunce told Christchurch District Court that Tolo's father was well known in the Samoan community, and the offending had "come as a bolt from the blue for the family".
Tolo admitted two dairy robberies, two attempted robberies, and two charges of receiving stolen property.
Judge Gary MacAskill remanded him on bail to a crown sentencing session on March 7. He asked for pre-sentence reports that will allow community detention and home detention to be considered.
Tolo's name was originally suppressed when he was arrested in October so that family, friends, and his school - St Bede's College - could be told of the charges.
Mr Bunce told the court at that stage that Tolo had no previous convictions and he sought bail so that Tolo could complete his end-of-year school examinations. Bail was granted.
Police said Tolo entered a dairy on the corner of Lyttelton and Stourbridge Streets at 1.30pm on October 11. His face was covered and he had what appeared to be a small, black handgun.
He raised the pistol at the attendant and threw rew a bag on the counter. The attendant retreated into a rear office and Tolo left empty-handed.
Shortly afterwards he went into a Hoon Hay dairy with his face covered by a black cloth and wearing a black hood. When he pointed the pistol, the attendant put $600 into the bag and also loaded cigarettes worth $50 when Tolo pointed the gun towards them.
Six days later, he went into a dairy in Somerfield wearing a balaclava, pointed the pistol at the two shop assistants, and they put about $125 into his bag.
A day later, at 10.45am, he went into a Selwyn Street dairy. The two attendants were watching from a rear room on a security video and when they saw the gun they set off a panic alarm.
Tolo tried to open the till and then fled the store.
Witnesses followed him and saw him drop his pistol which turned out to be an imitation weapon on the street and he threw away the bag before police caught him.
He claimed the robberies were part of a school prank.
When police searched his home they found two stolen video projectors valued at $3865. Both were engraved as belonging to two local secondary schools - one of them the school Tolo attended.
He said he had bought them in the street from a person whose identity he did not know for $100, knowing they were stolen.
Tolo was granted bail pending sentencing.
Mr Bunce told the court a restorative justice conference was being arranged. Tolo and his family would take a full part in that. He believed that by the sentencing date, the reparations would have been paid in full.
"There are circumstances relating to him which might conceivably create alternatives to imprisonment under the new Sentencing Act provisions," Mr Bunce said.
- NZPA
