A Ngongotaha labourer has admitted stealing sinks from public toilets and water cylinders from a business to get money from scrap metal dealers.
Tuhawaiki Allen King, 21, pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary and two of theft when he appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday.
A police summary of facts said King drove into a commercial house removal yard on Wikaraka St, Ngongotaha on December 13, last year at 11am and removed two hot water cylinders with valuable copper inside them.
After driving out of the yard without speaking with employees of the removal company, he then tried to sell the water cylinders to a scrap metal dealer.
When spoken to by police he said, "I thought they were there for the taking" and "nobody owned it".
Then between November 11 and 12 he removed a total of six stainless steel wash basins from public toilets at Reeme St and Hamurana Reserve.
He told police he found them outside a local marae and had been given permission to remove them.
King sold the steel sinks, valued at $800, to a scrap metal dealer for a total of $47.
The Rotorua District Council is seeking reparation of $2870.38 to repair the damage King caused to the public toilets when he ripped the wash basins out.
Judge Edward Blaikie remanded King for a pre-sentence and reparation report. He is due to reappear in court on March 26 at 10am.
