Rotorua shoplifter jailed after getaway thwarted by flat battery

A flat battery thwarted a Rotorua shoplifter's grocery getaway. Photo / NZME

A Rotorua shoplifter’s swift getaway after nicking more than $150 worth of groceries was thwarted when his car got a flat battery.

Now he’s been jailed for more than two years after police easily nabbed him in the carpark, found a shotgun and ammunition in his car and charged him with a raft of other offences.

Leonard Renata Kaaho, 45, appeared in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing before Judge John Bergseng on Friday after previously admitting seven charges.

It all came tumbling down for Kaaho when he stole $166 worth of groceries from Woolworths Rotorua on Fenton St on January 6.

Judge Bergseng said Kaaho took the stolen items to his car, but he couldn’t get it started because it had a flat battery.

Staff in the meantime had called police, who arrested him in the car park.

A search of Kaaho’s car found he was in unlawful possession of a modified 12-gauge shotgun and a round of ammunition.

Police also charged him with breaching a protection order by possessing a shotgun, and with driving while disqualified, having been convicted at least twice before. He was also sentenced on a previous charge of shoplifting from Woolworths Rotorua in December and breaching bail.

His lawyer, Wiremu Te Are, told Judge Bergseng that Kaaho had wanted to seek help for his addictions and asked for a sentence that allowed him to rehabilitate.

Judge Bergseng noted Kaaho had a methamphetamine addiction and had self-withdrawn in 2021 from a rehabilitation centre. He had also self-withdrawn from an alcohol-related rehabilitation course while in custody in February this year.

Judge Bergseng sentenced him to 25 months in jail, saying any wish to address his addictions would become a matter for the Parole Board to discuss upon his release.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.