A fun post in New Zealand laws
Coaster’s wee police car incident
From Stuff.co.nz, By The Press’s Giles Brown
When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. However, a young West Coast man has found out that there is a time and a place.
Ryan Stentiford, 21, of Greymouth, has pleaded guilty to trespass after entering a police car park.
On November 1, Stentiford walked into the Greymouth Police Station carpark and relieved himself on a police car.
The Greymouth District Court heard yesterday that Stentiford, who was drunk, was walking along the town’s Guinness St when he made a detour for his toilet stop.
“It was like sticking your hand up and saying ‘book me’,” Sergeant Nigel Orpwood, of the Greymouth police, said after Stentiford was arrested.
Defence counsel Vicki Walsh told the court it was “rather unusual behaviour, and clearly the defendant is embarrassed by his own actions”.
“He doesn’t have a clear memory of the event or why he went onto police property.”
Police officers had caught Stentiford in the act and had made him wash the car.
Yesterday, Judge Jane Farish gave Stentiford, a mine worker, an ultimatum.
“If you go and clean one of the cars at the police station, you can come back this afternoon and I will discharge you without conviction,” she said.
“I will clean the car, thanks,” Stentiford said and left the court.
Okay, this one’s mostly just for the sheer amusement factor. Not for the issue that he was charged with, but for the community policing involved in the sentencing.
Sometimes, I just adore my country’s attitude.
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