Practical joke turns sour

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 2

Practical joke turns sour

’A Auckland A boy who played his first practical joke at the age of four saw his latest joke backfire badly yesterday. As a toddler, he planted a large rat where his mother was sure to find it. Yesterday, the apprentice shoemaker, aged 16, planted a fake time-bomb inside a dangerous goods bunker where one of the new boys at work was sure to find it.

The apprentice said he “felt like being sick” as he stood helplessly by and watched ambulances, fire engines, an explosives expert, and more than three dozen policemen arrive. Hundreds of workers and residents in the Ponsonby area were evacuated as the police isolated the area.

“Spud,” as he’s known to his friends, sat at home yesterday under suspension from his job, and came close to tears as he talked about the joke. The target of his prank was three new boys who had started with the footwear manufacturers, Burnett Jones, Ltd, in Williamson Avenue. “I didn’t realise the consequences,” he said. “The police said I could have been charged with manslaughter if someone had been killed by a fire engine on its way to the factory.” Spud, who will not know for another day whether he will lose his job, said that he would never attempt such a dangerous practical joke again.

The taw on malicious fire calls recommends $3O restitution for each engine called out, though the figure is entirely in the Magistrate’s hands.