Plea of guilty to hoax call

Press, 24 May 1985, Page 3

Plea of guilty to hoax call

PA Whangarei A man changed his plea to guilty when he appeared in the’ District Court at Whangarei yesterday charged with making a bomb hoax telephone call at the Marsden Point oil refinery expansion site last year. Vaughan Stanley Tito, aged 20, an unemployed labourer, of Whangarei, was convicted and remanded on bail to June 13 for a report and sentence in the District Court at Auckland.

The Crown prosecutor, Mr Patrick Treston, said that soon after 3 p.m. on August 23 last year the site switchboard operator had a telephone call which said there was a bomb set to explode at 3.30 p.m. “As a result the control room area was cleared while a search was made, but no bomb was found,” he said. “Work resumed at 3.55 p.m. and after police inquiries the defendant was spoken to. Tito admitted making the call and said he did it because he wanted the afternoon off, and was encouraged to do it by his workmates and friends.”