Sheep rustlers jailed

Two men accused of packing 14 stolen sheep into a car have been jailed for 10 months.

Jonathan David Dunick, 23, and John Richard Kaka will also have to pay $4500 in reparation.

Kaka is serving two years on other charges, and the 10 months were added to his term.

Accomplice Desi James Cook, 23, was sentenced to four months' home detention and 100 hours' community service, when the trio were sentenced in Hastings District Court today.

They faced 10 sheep rustling-related charges.

Dunick and Cook were caught after police stopped their car in Flaxmere on May 31, and found the interior and boot packed with stolen sheep.

They believed the animals, worth about $100 each, were destined for one of three illegal slaughterhouses they later found in Flaxmere.

- NZPA