Man stole $1000

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 4

Man stole $1000

A sum of $lOOO in cash was stolen by Tana Panapa from the bedroom of a Hills Road address while the occupant was working in the garden, said Sergeant W. J. McCormick in the District Court yesterday. Panapa, aged 29, unemployed (Mr Erno Bedo), also admitted stealing a diamond and opal ring, valued at $495, from a Riccarton jeweller, and damaging a window in a house in River Road.

He was convicted by Judge Hattaway and remanded in custody to April 23 for a probation report and sentence. Of the burglary of the Hills Road property, on April 9, Panapa told the police he took only about $4OO. He said he had a drug problem. Sergeant McCormick said that on the afternoon of March 20 Panapa had made inquiries in Straven Jewellers, in Riccarton Road, about a watch. He returned later, lifted a ring from a display case,

and ran off. When apprehended by the police on April 13, Panapa said he was unable to remember the events on the day the ring was stolen. An application for bail, sought by Mr Bedo, was declined by the Judge. FIREARM OFFENCES No explanation was given to the police by Robert Geoffrey Matthews about the origin of firearms involved in a shooting incident at a Hoon Hay address on January 1, said Sergeant McCormick.

Matthews (Mr G. R. Lascelles) admitted unlawfully possessing a sawn-off shotgun, and a sawn-off .22 calibre pump-action rifle in James K. Baxter Place. He was convicted and remanded in custody to April 28 for a probation report and sentence. Sergeant McCormick said that on New Year’s Day several shots were fired at an address in Hoon Hay.

As a result of police observations Matthews and an associate were stopped in a car in which two loaded firearms were found. A box of ammunition was found in the defendant’s pocket. On a charge of possessing a sawn-off shotgun in circumstances which showed an intention to use it to cause bodily injury, Matthews, who pleaded not guilty, was remanded in custody to May 21 for a defended hearing. BURGLARY OFFENCE Because he was hungry a man threw a stone into a shop window and took a bar of chocolate and some tobacco, said Sergeant McCormick. Lewis Mihininui, aged 36, a shearer (Mr T. M. Fournier), admitted burgling the Keystore branch at the comer of Armagh Street and Barbadoes Street on the night of April 10.

He was convicted and remanded in custody to April 23 for a probation report and sentence. Compensation of $173 was sought in respect of the broken window.

The stolen property was recovered when the defendant was apprehended by a police patrol, Sergeant McCormick said.