A judge has told a Queenstown tattooist to buy a Lotto ticket after throwing out a receiving charge against him.
Judge Russell Walker dismissed the charge against Deane John Jones, 48, in Queenstown’s court on Tuesday after hearing three hours of evidence about the strange comings and goings of a Nissan station wagon in 2021.
Complainant, Jacynda Wallace, told the court she lent the car to a friend, Daniel Scott, on May 9 of that year on the understanding it was only for the day.
But Scott never returned it and eventually blocked her on social media.
Wallace saw the car by chance about a month later, on June 8, at a service station in Frankton.
When she told the man driving it had been stolen from her, he replied he had bought it ‘‘legitimately’’ and had receipts to prove it.
She formally reported it stolen to police two days later, after an attempt to meet Scott ended in her ramming her car.
Invercargill woman Sonia Robinson gave evidence she and her partner were offered the station wagon in exchange for her ute, which they’d advertised for sale on social media.
About 8pm on June 8 — the same day Wallace saw her car at the service station — and after an exchange of messages between her partner and a woman called Vanessa Jones, a man she recognised as the defendant delivered the vehicle to their home and drove away in the ute.
Soon after registering its ownership under her name, the couple discovered on a motor vehicle ownership records website it was stolen, Robinson said.
Jones’ counsel, Paul Norcross, said although the defendant had admitted to buying the station wagon, the police had no admissible evidence of him receiving it from Scott, nor of having it in his possession.
The police couldn’t make out he’d received a stolen vehicle because Wallace had given it to Scott with her consent and didn’t immediately report it as stolen.
Norcross said the cops’ claim the station wagon had been stolen was at odds with a charge, for which Scott was convicted last year, of unlawfully using the vehicle for pecuniary purposes but ‘‘not to be guilty of theft’’.
Bear poked
An Arrowtown tradie says a man he slapped at the pub owed him money and ‘‘poked the bear’’ by bad-mouthing him.
At his sentencing on an assault charge in Queenstown’s court this week, Scott Craig Woods, 45, gib stopper, told Judge Walker he paid the
victim $300 to carry out work at short notice on a house renovation in Wellington some years ago.
The victim failed to show up and kept the money.
Woods didn’t see him again till they bumped into each other at the New Orleans Hotel in 2021 and argued about the money, Woods claimed.
The police summary of facts said the pair met by chance a second time at the Frankton Arm Tavern on July 29 last year.
The victim told Woods he didn’t want any trouble, and walked away when the defendant raised his voice and called him a liar.
Seconds later, Woods walked over and slapped him on the side of the head, knocking him to the floor.
The uninjured victim went outside and called the cops.
Woods told police he ‘‘smacked’’ the victim because he was ‘‘talking shit’’.
He told Walker in court he shouldn’t have struck the victim, but it was a case of ‘‘poking the bear’’.
‘‘You can only poke the bear so much before it rips your head off.’’
Walker said regardless of what had happened in the past, ‘‘any application of force by you is completely unjustified’’.
Woods was convicted and fined $500.
Other convictions
Imposed by community magistrate Sally O’Brien yesterday:
● Richard Phillip Murray, 47, chef, of Hanleys Farm, drink-driving (170mg), Arthurs Point Road, November 11, fined $400, medical and analyst fees $111.25, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions.
● Bayden Tu Rangi Michael Solomon, 18, of Kelvin Heights, drink-driving (646mcg), Eleventh Avenue, November 20, fined $580, disqualified six months.
● Sequoia Parori Barrow, 22, hospitality worker, of Arthurs Point, drink-driving (1095mcg), Gorge Rd, February 9, fined $1000, disqualified 10 months, zero-alcohol licence provisions.
● Leyland Te One Rapata-Brookland, 22, concrete worker, of Queenstown, drink-driving (666mcg), Lucas Place, January 28, fined $600, disqualified six months.
● Jack Freeman Bell, 22, roofer, of Dunedin, drink-driving (502mcg), Gorge Rd, January 3, fined $450, disqualified six months.
● Callum Ovidiu Plank, 23, chef, of Frankton, disqualified driving, Cherry Blossom Ave, November 20, fined $350, disqualified six months.
● Fletcher James Neil, 21, apprentice builder, of Frankton, drink-driving (871mcg), Frankton Rd, January 21, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions.
● Paco Julien Hugo Lachevre, 27, carpenter, French national, of Queenstown, drink-driving (1038mcg), Hensman Rd, December 29, fined $500, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions.
● Rachel Bushell, 32, British national, of Shotover Country, dangerous driving, Violet Way, September 7, disqualified six months, ordered to pay $8495 reparation.
● William James Parrott, 21, panel beater, of Frankton, drink-driving (558mcg), Frankton Rd, January 28, fined $500, disqualified six months.
● Nathan Donovan, 28, of Queenstown, drink-driving (148mg), careless driving, Veint Crescent, January 26, fined $650, reparation $400, medical and analyst fees $111.25, disqualified eight months.
● Lucais McQuaig, 26, bar manager, of Fernhill, drink-driving (479mcg), Lake Esplanade, September 17, fined $400, disqualified six months.
● Melanie Mae Brewer, 41, manager, of Lake Hayes Estate, drink-driving (193mg), Frankton Rd, December 31, fined $450, medical and analyst fees $111.25, disqualified 28 days, alcohol interlock provisions, eight months’ supervision.
● Te Tainar Cody Ehrhorn, 24, driller, of Cromwell, drink-driving (441mcg), Frankton Rd, January 1, fined $380, disqualified six months.
● Arana Eruera Rangihaeata Watson, 26, builder, of Queenstown, disqualified driving, Frankton Rd, October 19, 60 hours’ community
work.
