Shoplifter just tried oysters 'for freshness'

A man has been fined for shoplifting at a supermarket after claiming he was testing for freshness when he ate six oysters.

Hauwai Hauwaho, 33, was fined $100 by Community Magistrate Gary Moltzen in Hamilton District Court yesterday, the Waikato Times reported.

Hauwaho said he was testing the oysters' freshness when he ate six before returning the packet to the shelf.

"They were frozen. I was misled by the way Pak 'N Save advertised them as fresh.

Mr Moltzen told Hauwaho: "They were not so stale that you managed to eat six out of eight. You are still upright so they could not have been too bad,"

- NZPA